On Friday, the Clutha District Council announced it had awarded the deck and beam upgrade contract to Fulton Hogan for a sum of $418,052.
Council district assets manager Jules Witt said it was well below the pre-tender estimate of $569,800. Four tenders were received, ranging from $418,052 to $515,262.
The deck and beam upgrade work is expected to take place from mid-July until late September and any traffic disruptions while the work is being carried out will be advertised by the council.
Mr Witt said upgrading and strengthening the bridge deck and beams would bring an end to weight restrictions and restore the bridge to Class 1 heavy vehicle loading capacity.
Weight restrictions (50% of Class One; 23 tonne maximum) were placed on the bridge in November 2009 after an investigation found it was not initially designed and constructed for Class One (44-tonne) loads. An overweight permit system has been in place since, to allow qualifying vehicles to continue to use the bridge.
The Clydevale Bridge spans the Clutha River about 22km northwest of Balclutha. It is a key transport route, as some oversized loads can not use the Balclutha bridge.
The bridge also serves as an alternative route when the Beaumont Bridge, on State Highway 8, is under repair.
The council originally tendered the strengthening project as one contract for the deck and beam upgrade, as well as pile repairs.
However, the components of work were separated into two contracts and re-tendered in March, in order to attract more competitive pricing, Mr Witt said. It became apparent the underwater bridge pile repairs and cleaning component had put some
contractors off tendering.
The New Zealand Transport Agency last year approved its 69% share of funding for the strengthening project, estimated to cost a total of $974,000.
Mr Witt said the unused funding from the bridge deck and beam upgrade would be carried over to the 2013-14 year and allocated towards the pile repairs contract.
