The gates blocking off Wellington's City to Sea bridge. Photo: RNZ / Pretoria Gordon
A Wellington City councillor is hopeful the barriers around the City to Sea Bridge in Wellington will come down today.
The City to Sea Bridge, which links Civic Square and Whairepo Lagoon, has been at the centre of heated debate in the capital.
Fences were put up blocking off the bridge which was slated for demolition earlier this month, but just days later it was announced work would then be paused to await the government's announcement on new seismic standards, which could provide a pathway to saving the bridge.
Councillor Diane Calvert said under the new standards they were expecting renewal and strengthening costs to be around $7 million, which she said was well within the $36m currently budgeted for demolition.
She said in a briefing on Tuesday council chief executive Matt Prosser gauged opinion on whether the barricades should be taken down, with the majority of councillors at the meeting being in favour.
Photo: RNZ / Samuel Rillstone
Calvert said they were now waiting on Prosser to confirm that decision.
"I would be expecting that as soon as the CEO is comfortable that [the] majority of elected members have been heard that there will be no reason for those barricades not to come down today."
A council spokesperson told RNZ the fences were expected to come down later on Wednesday or tomorrow.
The chair of the Wellington Civic Trust, Helene Ritchie, who has opposed the bridge's demolition said the removal of the fences was welcome news.
"The bridge should never have been locked off," she said.
But she was unimpressed the fences weren't yet down.
"Why is it taking so long for the chief executive to unlock a padlock?"
