{"id":624499,"date":"2026-10-08T15:50:12","date_gmt":"2026-10-08T15:50:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/624499\/"},"modified":"2026-10-08T15:50:12","modified_gmt":"2026-10-08T15:50:12","slug":"construction-begins-on-countrys-highest-road-bridge-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/624499\/","title":{"rendered":"Construction begins on country\u2019s highest road bridge"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u201cIt\u2019s a unique bridge and it\u2019s a unique gorge. It\u2019s about 260 metres long and is a truss bridge, it\u2019ll span a little bit more than the gorge so we can avoid some of the geotechnical and geological issues on the edges.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019ll be quite an impressive sight,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

And although it\u2019s expected to take four years to build, Partridge reckoned they might be able to shave some time off that.<\/p>\n

\"AA one-lane Bailey bridge was installed after Cyclone Gabrielle washed away the old bridge in 2023. Photo \/ RNZ, Alexa Cook<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve got a really good construction team on board and I\u2019m relatively confident that they\u2019ll be able to exceed expectations there and bring this in a bit earlier than the four-year timeframe we have for construction,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Getting to this point had taken years of negotiations with the five landowners whose properties the road would cross. Ben Mackintosh\u2019s family had been farming in the area for over 100 years and he said the new road would cut straight through the middle of his best pasture growing paddocks.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s going to be a pain in the ass. During construction it\u2019ll be quite a nightmare.\u201d<\/p>\n

That\u2019s because of the 205ha of his dairy farm, about 27ha would be used to build the road over the next four years. It would disrupt his dairy farming operation and he\u2019s planning to drop down to once-a-day milking because the cows would have to walk further and graze steeper, tougher country.<\/p>\n

\"TheThe new Waikare Gorge road goes right through the middle of Ben Mackintosh’s dairy farm. Photo \/ RNZ, Alexa Cook<\/p>\n

\u201cWe don\u2019t really want it through the farm, but it\u2019s got to be. We can\u2019t stop it.<\/p>\n

\u201cI can see why other people want it. We\u2019ll just do what we can and move on,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

He could appreciate the benefits to the region and to farmers on the north side of the gorge, as the road was used by thousands of trucks and cars every day.<\/p>\n

Wairoa District councillor Jeremy Harker said the new bridge was a big win for the whole of the East Coast.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s also going to be good for the economy with Affco, our apples, forestry … all this stuff that comes out of Wairoa.<\/p>\n

\"WairoaWairoa District councillor Jeremy Harker said the new viaduct was great for the Wairoa economy. Photo \/ RNZ, Alexa Cook<\/p>\n

\u201cIt connects us to the coast, to Gisborne and Tair\u0101whiti, up through Ruatoria and Waioweka Gorge … it just makes it a smoother, easier, better trip,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Transport Minister Chris Bishop said the cost of the project had been reduced.<\/p>\n

\u201cA focus on ensuring the project delivers value for money; it was initially costed at $350-$425 million in February 2025 but that had dropped to $275-$325m thanks to competitive tender pricing, design innovation of the bridge structure and mitigation of some key risks.<\/p>\n

\"TheThe first sod being turned by Ngati Pahauwera Trust chairman Toro Waaka, Maungaharuru-Tangitu Trust CEO Adele Small, MP Dana Kirkpatrick, MP Katie Nimon and Wairoa District councillor Jeremy Harker. Photo \/ RNZ, Alexa Cook<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s an exciting day for Hawke\u2019s Bay, with realignment of this vital East Coast highway creating jobs during construction and providing an efficient, safe and reliable road.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\u201cIt\u2019s a unique bridge and it\u2019s a unique gorge. It\u2019s about 260 metres long and is a truss…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":624500,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[4193,11154,1565,1568,4194,1887,4729,111,43,139,69,90,1314],"class_list":["post-624499","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-zealand","tag-alexa","tag-begins","tag-bridge","tag-construction","tag-cook","tag-countrys","tag-highest","tag-new-zealand","tag-news","tag-newzealand","tag-nz","tag-on","tag-road"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/624499","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=624499"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/624499\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/624500"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=624499"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=624499"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=624499"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}