Big step up to proposed Kopua bridge

Update 03.08.2010 from Richard Bax, Waikato District Council, Water & Facilties General Manager:

The bridge itself is being raised 80cm in the centre span, as a result of climate change requirements and this then became the control point for raising the bridge.  The slope and shape of the bridge was then controlled by the modern standards for mobility scooters and wheelchairs, which resulted in a 1 in 33 or 1 in 31 slope, this is why the town-side abutment is being raised around a metre.  The revised consent application has a new detail and drawing for the abutment, where we are looking to reduce the work being done on the coastal footpath.

Unfortunately some of the branches of the Pohutukawa’s do not provide enough headroom for the current level of the footpath, as part of the project we are looking to have an arborist trim the branches back; but leave the trees in place as much as possible, this trimming would be required even if the footpath was left alone or at the same level.

The Realignment of the bridge is to connect the bridge to a potential future project to develop 1 Wi Neera street as a “Green” park type area, which is planned to eventually have access down to the footbridge via a ramp or staircase.

The major costs involved in the construction of the bridge are the physical cost of the material, such as the precast beams, and the processes involved in building over the water, using temporary staging or other methods.  Neither of these are affected by raising or lowering the alignment of the bridge slightly,  if the bridge were built at a lower height there would be no savings, plus there would be a risk of it being inaccessible during a spring king tide, much as the current bridge is on occasion.

The important thing to remember is that we are building a foot bridge, not a cycleway, and given the width of the current design, 2.2 metres provides for a wide bridge and should be more than adequate for the shared use volume of traffic expected on the bridge. The proposed bridge will be much wider than parts of the current coastal footpath. We investigated the cost of widening the bridge out to 2.5 and 3 metres, and either width would require an extra row of precast beams to be added to the bridge deck, and the estimated costs for this was in the region of $1.5 million.

Hopefully that helps clear a few things up, if you have any other questions, feel free to ask.

Original article follows with incorrect comment on boating channel deleted:

There will be a one metre and twenty cm  step up to the proposed Kopua Raglan on the town side. Plans released by the Waikato District Council and bridge designer Aurecon show that the bridge will be well above the height of the old concrete footpath. Residents were promised that the proposed Kopua footbridge would be just 80 cm higher than the present footbridge. It appears that at its highest point the bridge is within this specification. As the boat channel has been moved closer to the town side, the bridge design is a lot higher on the town side than the present bridge is.
Although one of the design requirements was for the bridge to follow the curve of the present bridge, the proposed bridge design is skewed and unbalanced towards the town side. The plans show ramps on the footpaths north and south of the bridge for walkers to climb up the one and half metre rise. A retaining wall will be built around the pohutukawa tree in this area to protect the root structure.
Boaties will be happy with the design of the bridge as the boat channel at the deepest part of the estuary will allow larger boats to use the passage at low tide. The increased height of the bridge will allow the same larger boats to use the route at high tide.  Moving the boat channel to the town side will move the boats away from the jumping zone where children jump off the bridge.

The Waikato District Council is planning to increase its debt and borrow the 2.7  million dollars required to build this bridge.  At current interest rates this works out at a debt servicing cost of $170 a year for each Raglan ratepayer.

Submissions on the proposed bridge are now open and close on Friday 13 August 2010.

Please contact Louise Cowan at AECOM, telephone 07 834 8980, or call free 0800 492 452 if you have any questions about the application or click here for the full notice.

The full set of documents are available on the EW website.  Click here for them.

Any person may make a submission on the application. You may do so by sending a written submission to Waikato District Council, Private Bag 544, Ngaruawahia. The submission must be on Form 13. Copies of this form are available from Waikato District Council.

You must serve a copy of your submission on the Waikato District Council as the applicant, whose address for service is Aurecon, PO Box 9762, Newmarket, AUCKLAND 1149, Attention Sarah Hart, as soon as reasonably practicable after serving your submission on Waikato District Council as the consent Authority.

Submissions close at 5pm on Friday 13 August 2010.