"At this stage, we are paying for the bridge until liability has been established," Dunedin City Council projects engineer Evan Matheson said.
"But we are not expecting to have to pay for the damage."
On February 12, the metal flaps on a container carried on a wagon flew up, damaging the middle section of the bridge and forcing the removal of part of the bridge.
Liability for the damage was being discussed between KiwiRail (formerly Toll NZ), Port Otago and the council's insurance company and a decision was some time away, he said.
The tender to repair the bill is $239,235 was won by Dunedin company ZealSteel.
A delay in sourcing steel beams from Singapore has caused installation of the bridge to be delayed several weeks, he said.
"But now we are on track."
Mr Matheson said the bridge was being made by the company and would look almost identical.
"There will be no major changes."
Close inspection of the bridge revealed it may have required major repairs in the short to medium term anyway, he said.
"It was in worse condition than we anticipated due to corrosion."
There was unlikely to be any restrictions on the number of people who could use the bridge, he said.
A sign advertising the cost of the work had been posted by the council on a fence near the bridge, because it was council policy to display the contract value of open tenders on the site, Mr Matheson said.
