No quick fix for railway overbridge

People who used the Dunedin Railway Station overbridge, which was demolished by a container on a railway wagon on February 12, can expect to be taking the long way round for a long time yet.

Dunedin City Council transport manager Mike Costelloe said his department has set March 14 as the deadline for consultant MWH New Zealand Ltd to report on the future of the bridge, and nothing would happen on site before that.

‘‘The consultants are pulling together a report on what can be reused from the bridge, what our options are with regards to reconstruction using the existing materials, and what our other options are of doing something different [if necessary].''

Before the accident, the bridge was a popular route for commuters who parked in the harbour area and walked into the city.

Mr Costelloe said he had received suggestions that the bridge be replaced with a covered-in walkway and that it be extended to cross the busy Thomas Burns St.

But one of the issues confronting the council is what, if any, access for the disabled would need to be built into the bridge's replacement.

The 104-year-old bridge, with steep steps at each end, had no disabled access. A new bridge would have to provide some.

‘‘I think if we ended up doing something different it might rear it's head but we're hoping that if we replace what's there then it doesn't create too much of an issue for us.''

Mr Costelloe said his department was ‘‘not dragging its heels'' on the project and while it was waiting for the consultant's report, was investigating what temporary options were possible if the rebuild was to take a long time.

‘‘I think most people want it fixed tomorrow, but I think that's a wee bit unrealistic.''

A spokeswoman for the council's insurance broker, Fraser McAndrew Ryan, said an insurance assessor had been appointed after the accident but she was unable to confirm to the Otago Daily Times whether the bridge was insured.

She said the council had ‘‘quite a complex programme'' of insurance and the company would be working with the council on the insurance issue.

The overbridge has been shifted out of a council car park near the station, where it had been since the accident, to an industrial yard nearby.

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