Damage to Rangitīkei’s rural Otara bridge frustrates users facing temporary restrictions
Regular users of a rural bridge in Rangitīkei District are frustrated after structural damage forced temporary restrictions.
The restrictions were placed on the Otara suspension bridge, east of State Highway 1 near Ōhingaiti, after Rangitīkei District Council and Manawatū District Council received reports from contractors of structural damage to one of the bridge’s abutments on August 18.
A bridge abutment is the end support structure connecting a bridge to the ground and approach roadway.
Nearby farm owner Heather Gee-Taylor said the latest problem with the bridge was part of ongoing issues that had been happening for “a long time”.
Strengthening work was carried out in 2018 to enable use by general access vehicles (Class One) and further work was completed in 2023 after compression failure occurred in a main structural component of the bridge.
Speed humps were installed after the work in 2023.
“From a resident’s perspective, it feels like an ongoing problem and they just keep putting Band-Aids on it instead of actually addressing the situation, like ‘why is this bridge not fit for purpose any more?’” she said.
The installation of “super aggressive” speed humps on either side of the bridge to slow users made residents further question its sustainability, she said.
“The speed humps are a real problem, in terms of people using the bridge with trailers or stock trucks,” Gee-Taylor said.
“This is just turning into a joke. There was no real justification around the speed humps and the way they were impacting users.
“Even the fact that they need to slow us down to under 10km/h; you cannot go under 10km/h over the speed humps, they are so steep and so sharp.”
Gee-Taylor said the weight restriction would affect regular bridge users and stock trucks.
She said it would take her an additional 20 minutes to get her horses to the vet in Bulls on her horse truck.
Land owners on either side of the bridge “are the ones that are really going to feel it”.
The Rangitīkei council acknowledged it was an important route for nearby rural communities, with freight and stock trucks servicing farms on either side of the bridge.
The bridge is jointly managed and owned by the Rangitīkei and Manawatū councils as a boundary link.
Both councils have implemented temporary precautionary restrictions while further investigations are carried out to determine the cause of the damage and how best to repair it.
The restrictions include closure for vehicles exceeding 6000kg gross; a 10km/h speed limit for all other vehicles; and only one vehicle being on the bridge at a time.
Motorists are advised to drive in the centre of the bridge.
Signs will be in place on SH1 and Mangamako Rd to alert drivers, and trucking companies have been informed so they can advise drivers.
According to the National Library of New Zealand, the 100m bridge opened in 1900 as one of the country’s longest suspension bridges and was rebuilt after major repairs in 1962.
The assessment will provide the councils with further information about the bridge’s condition and help inform any next steps.
The councils will share further information with the community once the structural assessment is completed.
There is no estimate on when the work will be completed.
Fin Ocheduszko Brown is a multimedia journalist based in Whanganui.