![\"Heavy](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/heavy-vehicles-also-have-to-take-detours-around-alfredton-br-VLQQLTMK45FPVMHHG3MLTOUZEI.jpg\")
<\/p>\nA 103-year-old bridge serving Dannevirke has been found to be in much worse condition than previously thought.<\/p>\n
By Rebecca Hogan for Local Democracy Reporting<\/p>\n
The Rawhiti Bridge at the southern end of Dannevirke will close to heavy vehicles and face a speed limit of 30km from Wednesday after tests found parts of the bridge in a state of “substantial deterioration”.<\/p>\n
The Tararua District Council announced Monday that routine testing in June and more recent detailed investigations revealed the bridge was in “significantly poorer condition” than expected due to age-related deterioration within the structure and supporting beams.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Heavy vehicles also have to take detours around Alfredton Bridge near Eket\u0101huna due to similar structural issues. (Source: Local Democracy Reporting)<\/p>\n
Andrew Desmond network manager for Tararua Alliance acknowledged it was a last minute change for commuters, but he said engineers say the route should be restricted to light vehicles “as soon as practical”.<\/p>\n
He said tests showed accelerated cracking and low concrete strength in some parts of the bridge, putting it at risk from trucks, heavy commercial vehicles and heavy haulage units.<\/p>\n
Restrictions were intended to slow further deterioration while a long-term solution was investigated and Tararua Alliance prepared a business case for funding from NZTA.<\/p>\n
Less than a month ago, the council placed a similar 10km speed and weight limit on a 97-year-old bridge after investigations found Tararua\u2019s Alfredton Bridge couldn\u2019t hold more than 3.5 tonnes.<\/p>\n
Rawhiti Street and bridge is a popular alternative route to Dannevirke\u2019s main street.<\/p>\n
Typically, the bridge has around 970 vehicles cross it each day – roughly 70 of those were estimated to be heavy vehicles which will now have to follow an alternate route.<\/p>\n
Temporary electronic signs notifying drivers of these changes would be installed at both ends of the bridge by this Wednesday before permanent measures were put in place by the council.<\/p>\n
– LDR is local body journalism co-funded by RNZ and NZ On Air.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A 103-year-old bridge serving Dannevirke has been found to be in much worse condition than previously thought. By…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":585909,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[31044,111,43,139,69,112],"class_list":["post-585908","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-zealand","tag-manawatu-wanganui","tag-new-zealand","tag-news","tag-newzealand","tag-nz","tag-transport"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/585908","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=585908"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/585908\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/585909"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=585908"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=585908"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=585908"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}