Hokitika Gorge Photo: RNZ/Carol Stiles
Future options for the Hokitika Gorge swingbridge remain open with the Department of Conservation (DOC).
However, speculation around DOC taking on the bridge from the Westland District Council is an open question, the West Coast Conservation Board was told on Friday.
Fresh on the heels of the shock announcement last Wednesday, when the council announced it will be closing the bridge for safety reasons from 1 October, the department says it is confident it can effectively manage the overall visitor experience over the loop track and alternative bridge at the gorge.
DOC Hokitika area manager Own Kilgour said it was the most prominent DOC visitor experience in the Hokitika area.
"It's become the key visitor experience in the Hokitika district; in the last three years the department has invested heavily. It really is pivotal in making Hokitika a tourist destination."
However, the original swingbridge, a portion of the visitor car park and a section of track leading to the bridge were on Westland District road reserve. At the end of last year the council requested an engineering review of the bridge setting out "a number of actions" costing about $200,000.
However, the necessary work had "a tight timeline," Kilgour said.
A subsequent application to the government's Tourist Infrastructure Fund (TIF) by the council only got a response last week, with $150,000 confirmed.
"We're continuing to work closely with council to support them in exploring what they do with the bridge. The department is very committed in supporting the council. It is highly likely that they will need to close the first bridge for a period of time to ensure visitor safety."
Meantime, DOC was confident it could maintain the key visitor experience at the Hokitika Gorge, based on its prior experience of disruption to visitor sites.
The track and first viewing point before reaching the swingbridge, would remain open.
Visitors would still be able to fully experience "the wonder of the entire gorge site" alternatively from the new bridge further upstream, and by using the loop track, he said.
"Our experience in managing change at visitor sites is as long as we provide a visitor experience, people arriving at the site are none the wiser of what to expect."
Turning to the issue of fixing the old bridge, one option to be explored by the council was total replacement.
"We're supporting them in that."
That would include a further application for TIF funding, and the offer by the department of its own in-house engineering resources to offset costs for the council.
Kilgour said the latter was a "significant component, which for council would be useful".
Other speculative options included assuming ownership of a new structure, and DOC would only be interested in taking on a new structure not an "end of life" asset.
"One of the things on the table would be for DOC to take over ownership of any new bridge ... what would be required would be for the council to close the road reserve for DOC to take it over," Kilgour said.
"The opportunity would then be for the department to take an integrated approach to the whole (gorge) site."
Conservation board chairperson Mike Legge said a lot of the conversation around what would happen was "speculative" at this point.
Kilgour said that was true but the department was "very keen to work with council".
Board member Danual Cattermoul asked if any bridge replacement was likely to be on the same alignment.
Kilgour said there could be an opportunity to slightly realign but also look at future-proofing against "exposure risk" by raising the bridge height.
That would bring a wider advantage of making the whole gorge site more wheelchair accessible, by effectively reducing the gradient of the track on the current bridge approach.
Local Democracy Reporting is Public Interest Journalism funded through NZ On Air.