Contractors working for the Dunedin City Council began work on the footbridge last week, and were expected to complete the $96,000 refurbishment by the end of October, council contract engineer Chris Hasler said.
The work was being carried out by SouthRoads Ltd and involved the complete replacement of the footbridge's deck and handrails, as well as other improvements, he said.
That included cleaning or replacing dilapidated parts of the bridge's Edwardian lattice-truss steelwork, which was believed to be one of the only examples of its kind remaining in New Zealand.
The workers would also replace old stairs where needed and trim overgrown vegetation around the structure, he said.
"[We're] basically getting it back up to scratch so people can use it again," Mr Hasler said.
The work followed a "strong push" from the Chalmers Community Board to have the bridge preserved because of its heritage value, and reopened for public use, he said.
The bridge was closed in August 2009 because of its poor condition. Repairs were delayed as the city council, Otago Regional Council and KiwiRail wrangled over ownership and responsibility for the repair bill.
The city council eventually voted to accept responsibility for the bridge earlier this year, and an initial estimate put the cost of essential maintenance to reopen it at $124,000.
Further work costing another $150,000 was expected to be needed sometime in the next decade.
Yesterday, Mr Hasler said tenders to carry out essential repairs had come in "a bit cheaper" than expected, reducing the bill for essential repairs by $28,000, from $124,000 to $96,000.
