Media Release: Waikato District Council, 27 April 2010
The detailed design stage for Raglan’s Kopua footbridge has been completed.
Waikato District Council Water & Facilities Manager, Richard Bax, said feedback received from the Raglan community was taken into consideration for the final design of the replacement footbridge.
“Council received a lot of feedback from people who wanted the design to be very much like the existing one. We listened to the community and endeavoured to address their concerns. We believe the detailed design reflects the wishes of the people of Raglan,” he said.
To make the replacement footbridge accessible to all, the width of the footbridge has been increased from 1.5 metres to 2.3 metres wide. On the Eastern side (townside), the footbridge approach will be one metre higher, joining up with the existing walkway, and on the Western side the footbridge will join up with the edge of the grass by the campground. The footbridge at its highest point will be 800mm higher on the underside than the current bridge to allow the footbridge to be used all year round, and address high tide issues.
Raglan Community Board, Deputy Chairperson and Subcommittee Member, Leanna Darby, said there had been a lot of discussion around the lighting of the footbridge.
“It was important to address safety concerns over lighting on the bridge. It has been agreed that the bridge will be well lit, with LED lighting on the underside of the handrails so people can clearly see their way across the footbridge when it is dark. This lighting system uses very little energy, and also has a long life.
“It has also been suggested that there be feature lighting illuminating the columns that go into the water. The costs for this are yet to be determined,” she said.
Waikato District Councillor and Subcommittee Member , Clint Baddeley, said he hoped the footbridge replacement would be completed by late December 2010, but it depended on the resource consent process.
“Council is currently applying for resource consent from Environment Waikato and Waikato District Council. My concern is that a hold up in the resource consent stage will mean the existing Kopua footbridge will have to be closed until the new one is built.
“If we are forced to carry out strengthening work on the existing footbridge, while we wait for the resource consent process to be completed, the works will cost ratepayers $120,000. This is a complete waste of money as it will only last four to five years,” he said.
With the detailed design stage now complete, a final cost estimate is now being prepared for approval, prior to tendering the work.
ENDS
Although the WDC say that the bridge will be accessible to all, the new design does not appear to comply with Council’s own design standard. The calculations provided by Mr Bax on the cost of not building the bridge seem to warrant further investigation using the discounted cash flow technique. As the interest costs of financing the new bridge are higher than the short term remedial work, Council would save a lot of ratepayer’s money by deferring the replacement bridge and instead carrying out the remedial work.
It has been suggested to The Raglan Website by several local ratepayers that the footbridge should be deferred and instead Council should get on with rebuilding the burnt out Raglan wharf.