The rural township was split in two when the bridge over the Spirit Burn - a key link between Dipton’s school, eastern farms and western township - closed on January 19 for replacement.
The project had been scheduled for three months, but stretched to more than four months.
The closure forced residents, businesses, emergency services and school pupils to rely on one of two 40-minute detours to connect to the west side of the Oreti River.
The disruption quickly earned the project the nickname ‘‘Conundrum Bridge’’.
A temporary pedestrian bridge was installed to allow pupils to catch a bus on the creek’s western bank. However, all other traffic, including the town’s volunteer fire brigade, still faced the 40-minute detour.
Mr and Mrs Wilson, who live next to the bridge site, recognised the significant impact the closure would have on their business, as well as the wider community, and initially hoped the Southland District Council would offer a workable solution.
‘‘Then it was said that, no, they weren’t going to do the temporary bridge. It was going to be too expensive... 80% of our business is on the other side of that bridge.
‘‘Parents had to drive 30 to 40 minutes [each way] to get their child [to school]’’.
‘‘They just expect people to be resilient and just go with it... you [the council] really needed to think about what you’re doing before you go and make these decisions.’’
The lack of a viable alternative route was dangerous and expensive, she said.
‘‘Cutting off our small town like they did would have been devastating... most of our clientele for all businesses here is on the other side of that bridge.’’
The Wilsons proposed an off-road track to reroute local traffic along a river bank track underneath the main Oreti River bridge to meet up at the edge of the couple’s property.
A temporary road was established across their land to meet up with State Highway 6 on the south boundary - reuniting the community.
Mrs Wilson said the solution was a moral choice - especially to give emergency services a better option.
‘‘It was just a no-brainer.’’
But ‘‘we didn’t do this on our own’’.
Once the idea was launched the community got on board to make it work.
David Shaw and Steven Black spread loads of gravel to create the temporary road, while Campbell Drummond and Mr Wilson regularly maintained the road with a loaned Southern Trenching and Excavating grader.
The Murray and Johns families provided a digger to help install a culvert pipe over the creek supplied by Jake Stewart and Colin Smith. Mrs Wilson said it was great to be part of a community that came together in times of need.
‘‘Dipton is a great place,’’ Mrs Wilson said.
The track exceeded expectations.
‘‘We honestly didn’t think that it would work.’’
Some days there were as many as 80 vehicles and farm machinery using the makeshift off-road track.
The traffic provided plenty of entertainment as a variety of motorists decided to navigate the cross-country route.
‘‘I’ve had a couple of giggles as I’ve seen little old ladies pull up in these wee hatchbacks cars... hoping they would get through.
‘‘We had a group of motorbikes go through.’’
She was impressed with how the 10kmh track was treated with respect and maintained to a standard that it was able to handle heavy vehicles as well as a fire engine.
‘‘There were no dramas with people speeding through there. Everybody respected it and looked after it.’’
The community celebrated the ‘‘Conundrum Bridge’’ reopening and things were back to normal.
‘‘No more dirty cars for the community,’’ Mrs Wilson said.
- By Toni McDonald
