Whangarei’s Lower Hatea River Crossing and associated road­works are progressing well.

The bridge features five ‘horned’ piers and one solid abutment on either side of the River, supporting giant steel beams made by Napier company Eastbridge, that will form the foun­dation for the bridge platform.

The final pier on the Pohe Island side is due to be completed this month, at which point 25m long steel beams will be installed to sup­port the deck of the bridge. The 25 tonne precast concrete deck units being made by lo­cal firm Buscks will then be craned into position.

The new road on Pohe Island is also taking shape with most of the earthworks completed and the first layer of the pavement being con­structed. Earthworks for the roundabout at Riverside Drive have been completed with ad­ditional preload to speed up the ground consolida­tion process

Solid progress has also been made on the Port Road end of the bridge.

Services (pipes, duct­ing, cables) in the Port Road area have been moved to accommodate the roundabout to be installed at the intersec­tion of the bridge and Port Road. The ground at the site of the rounda­bout has been preloaded to ensure it is stable when the roundabout is built. Piles have been driven into the ground to support the founda­tions of the bridge ramp and work on the bridge abutment and first of the horned piers on the Port Road side is progressing.

The temporary jetty on the Pohe Island side of the River will remain in place until the beams have been fixed to the piers and the deck of the bridge is laid. At that point the jetty will be moved, section by sec­tion, to the other side of the river, to enable piles to be driven into the riverbed and piers to be formed on that side.

Whangarei District Council’s Group Manag­er Infrastructure Simon Weston said progress was tangible.

“I would also like to mention that the health and safety record is excellent, and that re­mains a major objective for us, so I congratulate the teams, and encour­age them to keep up the good, safe work,” he said.