Scheduled repairs to the Ashburton Bridge have been delayed this week with recent rainfall and river flows prompting a push back.
Scheduled repairs to the Ashburton Bridge have been delayed following heavy rainfall and high river flows Photo: SUPPLIED
Waka Kotahi NZ Transport Agency (NZTA) originally planned to resume its night works at the State Highway 1 overpass this week.
The works are to repair a pier at the bridge foundation that slumped a total of 13cm after being battered by the historic heavy rainfall and subsequent flooding at the end of May.
However, a lack of accessibility due to ongoing high river flows meant that Thursday's works had been postponed and will now take place on Monday.
"Given the current river flows, our repair crew cannot get close enough to the damaged pier," NZTA maintenance contract manager John Keenan said.
"However, we are working to divert the main flow away from this pier this week."
NZTA are coordinating night repairs on 2 August and then 8-9 August where the bridge will be reduced to single lane Stop/Go traffic management.
A full night closure and detour has also been pushed out to 15 August - from 9pm to 5am - as part of the repair works to jack the bridge deck back up to level.
The speed will be reduced to 30kph while the bridge is down to single lane and motorists should expect brief delays from each direction.
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