The Westland District Council says the decision to shut the footbridge from October 1 due to the risk of structural failure comes after years of discussion.
"The future of the structure has been discussed for over 10 years and now we have to start making decisions," transportation manager Karl Jackson said on Monday in announcing the closure.
"The stage it is at now is there is an increasing risk of structural failure."
A second bridge, built by the Department of Conservation in 2020, will remain open. However, the first bridge is the most accessible and photographed by visitors.
About 50,000 people currently visit the gorge each year, and upwards of 80,000 before the pandemic, the Department of Conservation says.
Mr O'Connor said he wanted to see if there were any avenues to get it up and running "ASAP".
"It's unfortunate the council ignored the reality ... [but] it's spilled milk. The challenge now is to get this sorted as quickly as possible. It's the jewel in the Hokitika tourism crown, and has had increasing international coverage."
He said the gorge helped delay tourists from passing through Hokitika and Greymouth, and anything that slowed people down was good for the region.
Westland Mayor Helen Lash said her council was acutely aware of the importance of the Hokitika Gorge as a visitor attraction.
"Unfortunately, whatever the outcome of the review in September, the bridge will have to remain closed while any potential repairs are made.
"We understand that local tourism operators are disappointed with the news of the closure, but the track itself will be open and the lower gorge suspension bridge is only a small portion of the entire experience."
Council chief executive Simon Bastion said the bridge was load tested last December and passed its certification.
"It has a load factor of six people at any one time, which is unlikely to be an issue outside peak visitor season.
"High priority maintenance requirements identified in the engineers' report have not been carried out due to funding constraints.
"We have only just received news of our application to the tourism infrastructure fund [$150,000] being successful. The engineering advice still stands and council is closing the bridge to continue to ensure visitor safety."
