Tracy Watson has retrieved battered chevron signs from the paddock she leases and tied them to her gate to help warn people travelling fast as they exit the bridge. Photo: Troy Baker
Tracy Watson has repaired the same fence seven times in three years because of vehicles crashing through it as they exit the Pekatahi Bridge, just south of Whakatāne.
She said it was only a matter of time before someone was killed.
"Every morning I come down here to feed the stock and breathe a sigh of relief if the fence is still in place and my stock isn't on the road. My real worry is that I'm going to come up one morning and find someone has died in a crash," she said.
After taking the issue to her local Whakatāne district councillor Andrew Iles, Watson was able to meet with two NZ Transport Agency Waka Kotahi staff members on Thursday about the issue.
After speaking with her, Eastern Bay of Plenty senior network manager Andreas Senger and regional safety officer Adam Francis have started assessing the site for safety improvements.
Councillor Iles said he would like to see a long-term solution to the problem before someone dies.
The 100-year-old, one-lane bridge at Tāneatua was originally built for trains, which no longer use it. Because of this, the approach via road is set at an angle to the bridge. Traffic lights either end control traffic - when drivers have the patience to wait for them.
The bridge is an integral part of State Highway 2 for traffic heading to Gisborne or the East Cape from the top half of the North Island. The speed limit on the bridge, which is frequently closed for repair, is 100km/h.
Andrew Iles speaks with Waka Kotahi, New Zealand Transport Agency's Eastern Bay senior network manager Andreas Senger and regional safety officer Adam Francis about the need for improved safety at Pekatahi Bridge. Photo: Troy Baker
For the past five years, Watson has been leasing the paddock at the White Pine Bush end of the bridge where vehicles end up if they fail to make the turn at the end of the bridge.
Incidents had become more frequent in recent months, with the latest two incidents happening within a few days of each other, she said.
"People don't realise how tight the curve is and they take it too fast. People's driving is getting really bad," she said.
The chevron signs directing traffic to turn right at the end of the bridge had been repeatedly removed, either accidentally or by vandals, she said.
"One person came off the bridge, collected the sign, took it through my fence and about 30 metres down the paddock and left the sign down there.
"I came up in the morning and my fence was all wrecked. The vehicles are almost always gone by the morning."
The most recent victim of vehicles exiting the Pekatahi Bridge too fast still lies in the paddock. Photo: Troy Baker
She has since tied one of the battered chevron signs to her gate and another to the corner strainer post and has had to badger authorities to put up a new sign.
The most recent accident involved an elderly couple who paid her for the damage to her fence.
Another time New Zealand Transport Agency Waka Kotahi repaired the fence.
Most of the time it has been up to her and her husband to carry out the repairs themselves.
"I'm up to my fourth gate in the past two years," she said. "I must have paid over $1000 on gates and fence posts."
From the crash debris left behind, she said at least one of the crashes had been a truck, which snapped a large strainer post in half.
"One was a motorbike. How he even survived, I don't know, because he bent the gate completely into a V."
The White Pine Bush entrance to the single lane Pekatahi Bridge, which is controlled by traffic lights. Photo: Troy Baker
She frequently saw people running the red lights when entering the bridge, as well.
She would like the road to be better aligned for safety, or have cameras installed to monitor traffic.
"To me it's become a safety issue and I really think that they need to reassess the exit off of the bridge and the entrance onto it."
The bridge is on Waka Kotahi's schedule for renewals to be replaced in 2037.
But many people in the Eastern Bay would like to see it replaced earlier, including Watson.
"It's the danger of the way the bridge is set up at the moment and the fact that they just keep repairing it and it's just a band-aid. All the boards are coming up all the time and the seal flicks off. So they fix those up, but they're only coming loose again two months later."
LDR is local body journalism co-funded by RNZ and NZ On Air.
