Southlander Ewan Dunnage is up in arms about the safety of a one-lane bridge, known as Bridge 4, on the Dipton Mossburn Road near Castlerock Cliffs.

The Southland District Council has decided the bridge is a high priority for replacement but cannot reveal the cost because the tender process has not been completed.

The council also says without a change to the low traffic volume at that site, a robust business case does not exist to replace Bridge 4 with a two-lane bridge.

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Mr Dunnage wrote to the Southland App on March 30, outlining his advocacy for a two-lane bridge at the site since 1999, without success.

He says the bridge has a dangerous approach. He was not happy with a council decision two decades ago to upgrade the one-lane structure rather than replace it, so he began a community petition.

On November 2020 the bridge was condemned and a temporary bailey bridge erected.

Mr Dunnage said the council decided on a replacement one-lane bridge without consulting Dipton community residents, using a public excluded meeting to approve a like-for-like replacement.

He said the council had not answered his questions about a two-lane replacement and residents had not been listened to. 

“The safety of all road users is paramount,” he said.

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The Southland App invited Southland District Council strategic roading manager Hartley Hare to respond to questions about the bridge.

1: Was there community consultation for this project and when? 

“As roads and bridges are funded district wide, levels of services consultation is done at a district-wide level through the Annual Plan (annually, if required) and Long Term Plan (every 3 years) process. The latest round of consultation is currently under way with roads and bridges being key consultation items.”

2: Was the decision to replace the bridge really made in public excluded and why? Is the decision now public? 

“The report tabled was to consider options above the minimum levels of services. The key reason why the report was in public excluded was to protect Council’s commercial advantage to obtain best value for its ratepayers. At the same meeting, a report was also presented in public excluded on the procurement of footpath works for the exact same reason. Mr Dunnage has a redacted version of the report which has the actual dollar values removed but does reference the impact on rates between the options.”

3: How much will the replacement of the bridge cost? 

“The information is commercially sensitive until the procurement and tender process has been completed. The realigned two-lane option would add an additional 1.5% rates increase over and above a modern day like-for-like replacement.”

4: Is there a time frame for considering a future two-lane bridge at this site, and if not, why not? 

“No. Without significant change in current road use it would be extremely difficult to establish a robust business case to justify the level of investment required for Mr Dunnage’s preferred option. For another way to look at how busy the road is, and assuming peak usage is from 7am to 7pm, there would be on average around 10 vehicles per hour or 1 vehicle every 5 – 6 minutes crossing the bridge.”

5: In context with the overall bridge replacement programme for the region, what priority has SDC given this particular bridge compared to other bridges that require replacement/repairs/two lanes? 

“Due to the length of the suitable detour route this bridge is assessed as a high priority for replacement. Some of the key parameters for prioritising bridge replacements is the availability of alternative access, length of available detours, if any, and number of users.“