Council calls for action on bridge

Continued frustration at the one-lane Kawarau Falls Bridge near Frankton and Kelvin Heights has led to the Queenstown Lakes District Council resolving to send a letter stressing the importance of the bridge to the Minister for Transport.

The infrastructure and services committee meeting yesterday discussed the fact the Queenstown Airport is of national significance but the bridge would not be replaced until 2016. Councillors remarked that emergency vehicles would have struggled to get across the bridge in severe traffic congestion during the Christmas and New Year period.

Council transport manager Denis Mander said the bridge issue was was a political process at national level.

A hearing is scheduled next week to change the planning designation, which will allow the new bridge to be built.