The Ava Rail Bridge. Photo: RNZ / Nick James
The closure of a popular walkway on a rail bridge across the Hutt River has been put on hold to allow Hutt City Council time to develop an alternative.
KiwiRail had planned to permanently remove the walkway across the Ava Rail Bridge, which crosses Te Awa Kairangi Hutt River between the Ava railway station and Richmond Grove, as part of work to replace ageing railway sleepers.
KiwiRail owns the bridge and said it could not replace the sleepers without permanently removing the council-owned walkway.
That would have left only two other pedestrian routes across the river, both of which were about 1km away, at either the Waione Street bridge to the south or the Ewen Bridge to the north.
The walkway was due to close this Sunday, but KiwiRail has delayed its plans to give the council more time to come up with plans for an alternative walkway, said Transport Minister Chris Bishop.
"KiwiRail has commissioned a study looking at options and expects to provide it to Hutt City Council in the coming weeks," he said.
Photo: RNZ / Nick James
"This study will give the Council solid information on what a replacement walkway across the river at Ava could look like."
KiwiRail's work on the bridge would now begin around Christmas time, and the existing walkway would still close a month or two before that. But by then the community should have "a clear path forward", said Bishop.
Lower Hutt Mayor Campbell Barry said people relied on the bridge as an important route across the river.
"It's great that we are now all working together to find a solution," he said.
"This approach ensures we have time to consider how pedestrian access could be aligned with KiwiRail's planned maintenance at Christmas."
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