Nothing sums up NZs bullshit infrastructure quite like the Auckland Harbour bridge fiasco 

1. …; A new Ministry of Works needs to be rebuilt and restaffed and set to task on rebuilding and upgrading the entire infrastructure alongside a mass State Housing build in order to prepare us for our climate crisis future’…
   —————————–

   THE ABOVE.

2. I seem to remember that there started being issues with the structural integrity of the bridge when the “Nippon Clipons” as they were called then, were attached.. It was obvious from the start that the attachments weren’t up to the same standards as the original bridge, but in saying that, I’ve worked on ship repair where we have had to replace whole superstructures as a result of the heavy seas buckling 13mm plate with full steel framing, specifically designs to protect containers from getting washed overboard… at this point, I would be pointing directly at the idiots who either didn’t put out a wind warning, or at a system that doesn’t take the dangers to trucks, of the high winds that have blown across the bridge for decades into account… that became a much bigger issue after 1981 with the passing of the transport deregulation bill… the reality is, that steel is actually a soft, and flexible metal, and will always give way to pressure. the transport authority is at fault for not stopping trucks from creating a danger on this vital artery..

3. what’s not being said in the nauseating rush to promote a second harbour crossing for ‘resilience’ is that it’s unnecessary:
   – traffic volumes are static on the harbour bridge so a new crossing is unnecessary
   – spaghetti junction has a capacity limit that a new crossing would breach due to more traffic trying to flow through
   – a new crossing will cost untold billions
   – it will promote more unsustainable driving through induced demand
   – it will likely require wholesale destruction of more housing to make way for on-ramps/off-ramps to the new crossing
   – previous work on this has shown a negative Cost Benefit Ratio – i.e. it will deliver less benefit than what it costs
   – redundancy is an illusion anyway – there’s already a second crossing via the western ring route, and a tunnel/new bridge etc over the harbour will be just as susceptible to crashes etc causing huge traffic jams

   Any rational analysis would show more public transport plus working from home to be the best options instead of mega expensive new roads/bridges etc.

4. In China, Australia or anywhere in the developed world people would already be in site repairing this. In NZ this process will be months long, will need some bullshit consent, some token brownmail koha and weeks of NZTA and council comparing dick sizes before anything meaningful occurs.

   This will Almost have as detrimental effect as a level 3 lockdown yet politically no one seems to give a fuck. Stoner Twyford seems to think a rail tunnel will fix it – no fucking idea where that tunnel would go to…..nor how you would drive cars through it in an emergency.

   We can all thank the gods that dairy prices haven’t tanked or this would be a total calamity.

   • You have obviously never lived and worked in Australia to use them in your example. And in China, shit gets done quick because no one wants to be “disappeared” by the Government.

     You need to get out of your house more.

     • Ok just accept the mediocracy that is NZ infrastructure. Do you notice how nobody gave a shit about this on the weekend even though this is likely to cause significant economic harm.

       What was especially worrying was the 2 B-trains (Mainfreight) that preceded me over the bridge at 6am – the clippons aren’t designated for this amount of traffic or weight loadings. Watch for the clippons to be ‘out of action’ once the superstructure is back in 2-3 months

       • Alan D reckons the clip ons are designed to be permanent, so theoretically, they should be designed to take heavy traffic.

         As for your point about NZ infrastructure being mediocre, i agree. This is what happens when public works rely on private interests to do public services.

         • They’ve been chasing and re welding cracks inside the box sections of the clip-ons for years. More recently tons of steel has been added to reduce the chance of cracks starting.

           We can blame NZTA for not stopping traffic, but I think they should be blamed instead for not adding protection bars in front of the main members to absorb the impact

           • spot on Andrew. a few bumper bars run along the beams would stop trucks intruding onto the structural members. Its almost like NZTA haven’t done any risk analysis or risk reduction. break-fix-repeat. I do wonder what would happen if a loose ship bonked one of the pilings, or a volcanic burp etc.

   • ” In China, Australia or anywhere in the developed world people would already be in site repairing this ”
     Yeah and Christchurch is the perfect example of that. The Japs rebuilt very quickly after their quake and tsunami.
     At least we find the money to bail out collapsing finance companies and the Americas cup venue and who can ignore Eden park yet we have never invested in the projects that are vital to modern day cities and planning for the decades ahead. We are moving more and more people in to a city that has run out of water and has one harbour crossing to carry increasing traffic that now will be closed to repair the current damage that will have a major effect on the Auckland economy , Michael Barnett will be having kittens.

5. How much of the bridge will be closed-off during the repair works?

   • Kevin the inner four lanes will be closed then but we have now written about trucking causing massive casts to all our highways now and we need to use rail in future see this;

     “CEAC say National needs to own over truck use causing massive road cost & damages to NZ Highways”

     Political press release – by Citizens Environmental Advocacy Centre.
     20th September 2020

     RNZ article today featured https://www.rnz.co.nz/audio/player?audio_id=2018764779 ‘Truck crashes leave Auckland Harbour Bridge hobbled’ clearly shows the massive cost of damages many of our highways drains, bridges and road surfaces by overuse of freight trucks all over NZ as the National Party recklessly ramps up yet more pressure to increase truck use policies during the election to move freight around NZ, when simple switching more freight to rail would benefit us all.

     The irony of Michael Barnett CEO of Auckland Business Chamber is only making things worse by calling for another plan for a tunnel to handle truck transport is poorly thought out, as the cost would exceed $30 Billion and take 10 years to build, and the NZTA senior journey manager Neil Walker said it right, “You can’t build your way out of it forever and we’re going to have to think smarter about how we try and manage demand on the roads, so that’s greater use of the likes of public transport and that sort of thing, particularly around the peak times.”

     CEAC supports Government to ‘balance the freight between rail and road to reduce the high cost of damages to our highways and reduce the Paris climate emissions inventory policies signed by labour, which is now increasing as reported by Oxfam. https://www.stuff.co.nz/environment/climate-news/300109742/new-zealands-paris-emissions-reduction-target-inequitable-and-insufficient-oxfam-says

     “Oxfam New Zealand says drastic cuts to emissions are needed by the end of the decade if New Zealand wants to play its part in limiting global warming to 1.5 degrees, Marc Daalder reports.
     Oxfam New Zealand has blasted the Government’s emissions reduction target under the Paris Agreement, saying it falls short of being consistent with limiting global warming to 1.5 degrees over the pre-industrial average and places an unfair burden on developing countries, including our Pacific neighbours, to reduce their own emissions.”

     National must get real and deal with Climate change by reducing truck freight firstly and join the global efforts to reduce the effects of climate change as time runs out.

     National’s two serious freight truck advocates Chris Bishop (National’s shadow spokesperson on transport) and Paul Goldsmith (National’s Finance spokesperson) must show leadership if they hope to win over the voters or languish on the opposition benches for years by repeatedly calling for ‘more roads and more roads policy’.

     CEAC has many times on the looming environmental catastrophe approaching us, that National Party has not even mentioned this looming issue yet. This is abysmal;

     https://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/PO2007/S00419/national-are-their-own-enemy-roads-roads-roads-is-their-death-nail.htm

     CEAC said in our several reviews of National’s ‘lacklustre environmental policies are “abysmal” as none even exist yet, so we encourage National to get real for our climate sake and return increased freight to rail.

   • I’ve just read elsewhere it’s two central lanes

6. Actually, it gets worse. The clip on lanes, were only ever made to be a temporary fix. They are not designed to last forever. The engineers gave the clip on lanes a 20 year life span… which was more than 20 years ago.

   • What a crock. The clip-ons were always planned to be permanent. The 20 year plan was a 2nd crossing feasability exercise . I know this. My father was closely involved with both projects. Cheers.

     • Thanks for the clarification.

7. why weeks?? why?? Do they understand how much this is going to cost the economy geezus its not only an inconvenience but a SPOF that the people we vote in to manage risk are so incompetent that it’s criminal and not one of them will put their hand up and be accountable for this? Anyway, I won’t be going over the shore for the next 5 weeks possibly longer….

   • Read my comment above – that’s why. If this was China or Japan the bridge would already be fixed and ready for Monday traffic.

8. They could try these guys for a good deal on some replacement steel perhaps
   (https://www.stuff.co.nz/business/industries/80635517/chinese-steel-fails-strength-test).

9. You can’t drive a train up to each shop to deliver goods. You’ll always need a certain amount of delivery trucks to cater for the population. The truck that went over was on his third crossing that day.

10. “We know with climate change that extreme weather will become the norm. Is the Harbour Bridge even designed for that new future?” Martyn Bradbury,

    The short answer is no.

    A large truck was struck by an unexpected extreme wind gust that drove it into part of the superstructure that the road bed hangs from, severely damaging it. I imagine that one of the questions the engineers will be scratching their heads over is; ‘How will the road bed be supported if this structural member has to be removed?’

    While they are thinking that one through. Some other questions they might like to ask are; ‘Will this happen again?’
    ‘What if these two trucks had been on the outside lanes of the bridge against the railing when the extreme wind gust hit?’

    ‘What if next time, it wasn’t a truck, what if it was a double decker bus filled with commuters?’

    ‘Will we need to build extra high barriers to stop high vehicles being blown off the bridge?’

    This accident was just a warning.

11. What a silly view. The wind gusts came up totally unexpected and quickly, I noticed the wind increasing within minutes a bit further down in the suburbs. So how could forecasters and transport planners predict such a weather event and accident?

    The infrastructure has though been neglected all over the show.

    Few will know how shockingly poor the water pipes and drain system in Auckland and also in other cities is.

    People celebrate our high rate of hydro power generation, but forget that the dams and so also need maintenance and in some cases need to be replaced, which costs billions.

    The dumb, brainwashed people have been manipulated to become dedicated consumerists, who never ask for the price of their living standards, many rather complain.

    The truth is, we are not much better than the USA, we live in a dreamworld, kind of, so much of what we take for granted is not for granted at all. The costs of fixing all this will be enormous and hit us soon.

    But, hey, the government and also local government know the solution already. When the burden gets too great, they will call for bringing in more shoulders to carry the load, so intensification, sharing the burden, that all will mean: Bring in more immigrants, we need the skills and investments they bring, and we need GROWTH.

    And we are back to where we were only until earlier this year, a growth committed system, where we will have continued immigration, a growing population and within 20 to 30 years 10 MILLION or more people live here, share the space and what grows and flows here, and pollute and kill off the environment, or what will be left of it.

    Meanwhile, drive, baby, drive.

    • Bigger tax cuts is the answer. Every Nat supporter knows this.
      And every ACT supporter knows that individuals will responsibly and individually spend their very own dollars maintaining the bridge. They know how best to spend their own money.

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