Subscribe to RSSSturges Rd: Bailey Bridge Up But Slow Action - Latest Photos
A temporary Bailey bridge has been set up at Henderson’s Sturges Rd while a rail replacement bridge is built - but it looks like a very slow project.
The local Waitakere council is running the project in stages over the whole of this year.
Motorists will have to cope with the temporary single lane bridge, on a stretch of the road that 17,000 vehicles have been using each day.
Local residents - including those in  flats right alongside the station, have to put up with an extremely disturbing “creaking” noise everytime a vehicle goes over the bridge. That noise is clearly heard as far as the station.
The new bridge will be built one side at a time - but there’s no sign of any of that happening yet.
It’s a pity KiwiRail is not in charge of this project so that it could throw all its resources and manpower to get the job finished in a reasonable amount of time.
A year -with the subsequent daily inconvenience for motorists - seems a very painful exercise.
Of particular concern is the extreme difficulty for rail commuters getting from one side of the road to the other where there is a temporary pedestrian footbridge, which leads to the station.
Because the bridge is single lane, meaning one lane has to queue at the lights, it means there’s always traffic built up and using the road providing no break in the traffic for commuters to get across. Motorists have been urged by the council to use alternative routes.
This dangerous situation will not be resolved when the new bridge is built as there is no provision then for a pedestrian crossing,
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4 Comments
It really annoys me that they aren’t starting work on the replacemet till march and that it will take till December to finish, especially since St Marks road bridge can be done in 5 weeks. The detours are quite long which makes it worse.
It’s an interesting exerience driving over the bridge and even in quiet times there is usually a queue. They also haven’t done anything to time the lights with the ones on Swanson Rd, this means you get a green to cross the bridge and just as you get across the lights at that intersection change to red. It’s often the same for cars going the other way.
The alternate route to this coming from the west is to use Metcalfe Rd, Munroe Rd and then Summerland Drive to Palamino. I usually use this way so as i don’t have the problem of traffic heading into Henderson or up Sturgess Rd during rush hour.
might have to wait till easter now till there’s a big enough break in the trains to be able to do much with it in one go. (Presuming here that buses will replace trains to the west over easter though I don’t actually know).
John - Its not exactly a quick detour though. Just another reason to catch the train I think.
Joust - It wouldn’t be a long weekend with a rail shutdown for works