Dundas St, at the intersection with Leith St, has been closed since February for the Otago Regional Council to undertake flood protection work.
After several delays which caused frustration to residents in the university area, it was opened to pedestrians on October 12.
The council announced yesterday it would open to traffic in mid-December,
a month later than was indicated last month.
Council operations general manager Gavin Palmer said in order to reopen the bridge it had to reseal the road properly, which required specialist equipment which was in short supply.
‘‘We must ensure all relevant safety checks are completed once the road has been resealed.
‘‘Only after the bridge is returned to its full load-bearing capacity can it be reopened to vehicles.”
Work would continue in the river near the bridge after it was reopened, but this was unlikely to affect vehicles or pedestrians, he said.
This final stage of the Leith flood protection scheme has included putting in a culvert next to the bridge to allow water to spill over into it when the river is in flood.
The Leith project has spanned more than a decade.
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So to summarise, the bridge opening is delayed because of lack of available surfacing equipment. In the real world, businesses schedule and book required services in advance. This is another example of ORC incompetence!
So it is 4 months after the original deadline- a 50% overrun in time (and cost?) paid by the ratepayers- the ORC at its best- contractors taking the mickey out of us- because they can...
In the real world you can book required services well in advance, and then other problems or delays can surface. On a major job such as this, it would seem inevitable due to the number of contractors, the complication of the work, and of course weather conditions. Fact of life, stuff all goes to plan! Virtually every building construction site faces the same problems. I'd say the men on site have done the best they could in some challenging situations, and no doubt share the frustration at the late completion.