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The bridge that provides access to Eave’s Bush from the Kensington Park subdivision has been closed by Auckland Council due to health and safety issues and will remain closed for at least a year.
Council’s Kauri dieback and track specialist manager, Grant Jennings, says the closure last November results from an engineering report which identified structural issues and recommended that “the bridge be closed to the public immediately to negate any possible injury, loss or damage to people or property until the support piles are adequately reinstated”.
The issues include unstable handrail barriers, undermined foundations and the deck needing replacement.
Mr Jennings says the Hibiscus & Bays Local Board has allocated funding to renew the bridge and replacement is planned to start early in 2021.
Kauri dieback work begins
Meanwhile, Council contractors started work on building boardwalks in Eave’s Bush, as a kauri dieback preventative (HM June 5, 2019), on January 20.
Completion of the first stage, which involves the track alongside the stream, is planned for the middle of this year.
The second stage, which involves upgrades to the rest of the tracks, should commence in October.
The estimated cost of the entire kauri dieback project in Eave’s Bush is $391,205 (HM October 2, 2019). The cost of the first stage, currently underway, is around $150,000. The work has been funded by the Natural Environment Targeted Rate.
Bush remains closed
Eave’s Bush is currently closed to the general public while the Kauri dieback work is underway. The only people allowed into the bush at present are the contractors upgrading the tracks or volunteers undertaking pest control.
The only access point to the bush, other than the bridge, is via Old North Road.
