It’s a vital piece of infrastructure that regulates water storage in our largest lake and access to Taupō’s town centre from the north.
But the possibility of an alternative to the Waikato River Control Gates Bridge is again on the boil as pressure grows on the tourist town and traffic backlogs build back up to pre-bypass levels.
Increasing traffic from developments to the town’s west and north has brought the focus, but also concerns over resiliency – the bridge is the conduit for sewer pipes heading to the Taupō Wastewater Treatment Plant from nearby residential areas.
In May the Taupō District Council brought forward, from Year 10 to Year 5, $390,000 in its 2021/31 Long Term Plan deliberations to investigate a second bridge.
A private plan change, due for hearing in November, that could see up to 780 new sections on the town’s northern outskirts, had elicited concern about congestion on the bridge, not only from councillors, but in public submissions – at least 15 of 59 suggesting a new bridge needed to be sorted first.
That traffic flows were now building back up to pre-bypass levels was also not lost on councillors.
The opening of the East Taupō Arterial in 2010 was supposed to take pressure off the bridge, and the rest of Taupō’s town roading network – and allow for the eventual pedestrianisation of the town centre.
It did, and this Taupō Town Centre Transformation (TTCT) is now underway, via $20.6 million in shovel-ready funding from the government, but the initial plans on which these changes were based also suggested a potential second bridge connecting to one of two locations on Waikato Street.
Talk of a potential future bridge got caught up in a more general debate about how intersections in the transformation would be treated, including the first one drivers hit when entering town from the north – where Spa Rd meets Tongariro St.
The traffic lights suggested by the council for this junction were dropped and a roundabout retained.
“The community screamed ‘what about a second bridge?’” admitted council’s transformation programme delivery manager Ian Gray to a Towncentre Taupō meeting in June.
“The second bridge really complicates the northern gateway for us, so we have listened. We are deferring the northern gateway, so we can deal with it with the second bridge.”
But when it comes to just how much a second bridge would cost, there’s no ball or even a park.
“I would hate to give you a figure because it could be so wrong… I would expect you are in the vicinity of $10 million plus and if you want a fancy bridge, a statement bridge, you could double or triple that easy... and when I say $10m I could be out by a factor of two or three,” said one out-of-town engineer.
The approaches and any land purchases required would add to the cost.
“Until you know where it’s going and what form it is, it’s blue sky stuff really.”
An, albeit bigger, bridge across the Waikato River in Hamilton being built now was over $100m, he said.
Looking backwards apparently wouldn’t help either – council chief executive officer Gareth Green said because the ETA bridge at Wairakei was part of a larger contract it was “impossible” to tease out a figure.
Site specificity and that the bridge was built over 10 years ago would also make it as a reference point less than useful, Green said.
Duncan Campbell, Traffessionals Ltd principal traffic engineer and director, wondered whether increasing the carrying capacity of the existing structure had been fully explored – though this is complicated by the bridge’s dual purpose: the district council is responsible for the road, while Mercury Energy manages the control gates.
“What about a three lane arrangement, with a changeable directional flow – two lanes southbound in the mornings, two lanes northbound evenings?” Campbell asked.
“There may be a far more economic solution than to simply build a second structure.”
While councillor Kevin Taylor quipped during the LTP deliberations that ratepayers could have anything they wanted “but you have to pay for it… by the way your rates are now 400 per cent what they were yesterday,” he also noted that a second bridge was a big ticket item locally, but “in the region it’s not, nationally it doesn’t even rate.”
Officially the council says it’s too early to provide any idea of a figure.
“The investigation is where we will see different options and costs brought forward for analysis,” it said in response. Delivery for that study and any new bridge is also fairly ballpark, with findings from any investigation possibly not available for a year or two after 2025.
‘Connecting Taupō 2020-2050’, the council’s transport strategy, also noted that a second bridge could be from five to 30 years away and might be affected by the modal shift – to alternatives – it was encouraging.
“Rectification of any significant shortcomings… to support increases in walking and cycling, especially for commuting workers and school students”, might delay the need for a second Taupō bridge, it said.
While Rowan Sapsford of Bike Taupō said the group didn’t have a view on whether another bridge was required, if more people were incentivised to bike to and from work and school it would help reduce peak time congestion.
“If another bridge achieved these outcomes then we would support that.”
Additions to the current bridge could be a wider cycle lane on the upstream side and an off-road connection to Spa Rd on the other.
The group also supported a permanent overhead pedestrian and cycle crossing from Riverside Park to the Countdown Supermarket area as a better off-road connection to town, and for sporting events and summer concerts.
1873 a Waikato River bridge is built near the Lake Taupō outlet with labour provided by the Armed Constabulary. Prior to this, locals and visitors took their chances in a canoe or boat, though a cable across the river at Nukuhau had made portage slightly safer.
1940-41 the Control Gates Bridge is constructed by Downer and Co Ltd for the Public Works Department following a worsening electricity supply crisis. Controlling river flows means a more assured electricity supply from Arapuni and Horahora Power Stations – the two dams then built of nine now on the Waikato. Construction involves excavating a diversion channel, deepening the river and building a structure across where the river would then flow. Workers housed nearby on Tongariro Domain.
1955 a heavy traffic bypass is proposed for Taupō to get trucks out of town. It gains some impetus from local group Foundation 21 during the 1970s and a route is mapped out.
1980s plans discussed for a second bridge to be in place by the early 1990s, but budget cuts put the project on hold.
1992 Transit New Zealand moves to designate a route immediately upstream of the existing bridge for state highway traffic to flow onto Tongariro St with local traffic from Norman Smith St using the existing bridge connected to Oruanui Street, but the project is put on hold. Acknowledged problems include effects on the Old Military and Early Settlers’ Cemetery on Spa Road and the Taupō Municipal Motor Camp.
1993 two truck crashes on the bridge, one a logging truck that damages the gate control mechanisms ignite the debate, one newspaper article calling the bridge “notorious”. Letters, reader surveys, editorials and commentators hold forth with opinions.
1996 $180,000 quoted for Transit NZ to design a second bridge situated immediately upstream of the Control Gates Bridge with the Norman Smith St intersection to be replaced with an underpass. The project would proceed with a decision on construction funding, however focus then shifts to a bypass as hoteliers and retailers advocate to get trucks out of the town. Bypass project held up as the district council sorts out a route with Contact Energy and Treaty of Waitangi concerns
1998-9 The council buys land from Landcorp – overcoming an injunction from the Tūwharetoa Maori Trust Board that the SOE shouldn’t be selling the land.
2007 Bypass finally approved. Talk of a second bridge near town is curbed as the diversion of heavy trucks and through traffic means it will not attract government funds.
2010 the completed $110 million, 16km long, East Taupō Arterial features a 400-tonne 150m long arch bridge over the Waikato River at Wairakei, lifted into place during a 24-hour period.
2017 calls grow again for a second bridge close to Taupō town with former district councillor Christine McElwee saying councillors in the 2000s knew the ETA was never going to permanently solve the traffic congestion from the north and west. Deputy mayor Rosie Harvey says priority bottlenecks elsewhere mean any solution would have to be a local one, though a second bridge is still desirable.
2021 the Taupō District Council brings forward $390,000 to 2025 from 2031 for a second bridge investigation.
Credit: Stuff.co.nz
