Crews worked around the clock last night to demolish a damaged span of the old Onewa Road bridge after a digger on a truck struck it yesterday morning. The NZ Transport Agency says because of the excellent work of the crews work is now complete ahead of schedule and all motorway lanes are open to traffic.
“Whilst the bridge was completely safe for traffic to travel under, we decided the safest option was to remove the damaged span as quickly as possible,” says NZTA acting regional manager Tommy Parker.
“The NZTA thanks motorists for their ongoing co-operation and patience while this work took place.”
“To ensure incidents such as this don’t happen again, we ask that heavy haulage please check all loads are below the legal height of 4.25m.”
Traffic is heavy heading towards Auckland City on the Northern Motorway this morning, but is expected to clear quickly now the lanes are open.
The old bridge was hit yesterday morning by a digger on top of a truck, temporarily closing the southbound lanes. The bridge was not in use at the time of the strike and is being demolished as part of the Onewa Road Interchange upgrade. Demolition of the remaining spans will take place during overnight closures over the next few weeks.
