Te Ara Pekapeka, Waikato River’s new bridge.
Waipā councillors have been told they need to be both brave and right when choosing where to bridge the Waikato River.
Gray Matter director and civil transportation engineer Alasdair Gray, who managed the building of the Te Ara Pekapeka bridge in southern Hamilton, shared his 19-year experience at a council workshop on Friday.
Gray Matter director and civil transportation engineer Alasdair Gray after speaking to councillors on Friday. Photo: Chris Gardner
“You will not make everybody happy, and right at the end there will still be people who deny that you spoke to them at all at the beginning,” Gray said.
“Do not underestimate what you are walking into. You had a taste of it last year having an experimental blue blob. It will get sorer and sorer as you get into the final details.”
Waipā District Council reset its 30-year Cambridge Connections transport infrastructure plan following public backlash against a proposal to build a new bridge near the existing Victoria Bridge.
Gas Bridge over Waikato River at Cambridge
“Even with the designation having been in place for 10 years, there were still people objecting and denying that they had been spoke to at all,” he warned. “You will not have everybody happy on all the routes you want so you need to be brave, I think, and right.”
He said it would be “15 years-ish to get to something completed, and that’s without pausing”.
“All the decisions you make need to be so solid that effectively it cannot become an election issue the next time, the timeframe will be crossing national and local elections three or four times, so every time you make a decision it needs to be election proof.”
Gray warned the investigation alone, that would result in a book containing thousands of pages, would cost the council between $15 million and $20 million.
“Decision making is complicated and needs quite a lot of thought. We have had arrests, trespasses, protestors, sabotage, and police on standby, and we thought we were doing our consultation correctly and well.”
Mike Montgomerie
Workshop chair Maungatautari councillor Mike Montgomerie said the council needed to hear Gray’s message.
Councillor Dale-Maree Morgan said she looked forward to the day Cambridge started getting awards for its new bridge.
Councillor Clare St Pierre wanted to know whether the bridge could be fast tracked.
Gray said a decision point in two to three years was realistic.
Councillor Roger Gordon said the council needed to dispel fears about width of the corridor.
“We need to establish a true understanding with the community,” he said.
Shane Walsh
Te Awamutu councillor Shane Walsh wanted to know whether the Blue Blob was in the wrong place.
“If it wasn’t in the wrong place then that is the right place?” he said.
“We are not throwing the baby out with the bathwater,” said Cambridge Connections director Katie Mayes.
“There was plenty of good ideas from the community. There was plenty of technical work done in the first round that we would be foolish to chuck away. We are starting at the beginning of the process. The way you define the problem has a really big bearing on what the solution might look like.
“If you say that the problem is that everyone wants to work and live in Cambridge and therefore come into Cambridge to do what they need to do that might lead you to think that you need more bridge capacity very close to town because that’s where everyone is going.
Katie Mayes
“If you say the problem is too many people are coming through town and that is destroying the amenity of the town centre then that might lead you to a decision that the bridge should be further out.”
Mayes said there was real desire to get to designation of the bridge corridor as quickly as possible.
“That’s how you can give certainty to the community about what’s happening,” she said.
“It will happen, but it won’t happen overnight. All we will have in the annual plan by the end of next year is a corridor, a general area where a bridge will go. We can colour it a different colour, it will still be a blob, and that is unavoidable in the way infrastructure projects happen in New Zealand.
“We cannot give them certainty by the end of next year.”
Damage to the Victoria (High Level) Bridge on the Leamington side. Photo: Mary Anne Gill
Te Ara Pekapeka bridge
Te Ara Pekapeka bridge
