Ashburton Mayor Neil Brown says it’s good to see the second bridge project moving at pace, with geotesting under way this month at and near the site of the new bridge and connecting road.

The mayor and councillors met this week with NZ Transport Agency project director Lonnie Dalzell, who told them core samples were being taken from a number of locations to get a better understanding of the geology of the area.

Mr Dalzell said a lot of preliminary work, like land acquisition, had already been done by council and construction could begin as soon as March next year.

“We’ve waited a long time to get to this stage,” Mayor Brown said. “And it was also good to hear that NZTA has already been talking with Environment Canterbury about using shingle from the Ashburton River.

“Shingle buildup in our rivers adds to the flood risk, so it makes sense to use it for this big project if they can.”

NZTA and Council have signed an agreement to manage the construction of the second Ashburton bridge and connecting road as one project, with the agency in charge of tendering the design and build work.

Central Government will fund the 360-metre bridge plus embankments from Chalmers Avenue to Carters Terrace. Council will fund the connecting local road from Carters Terrace to Grahams Road.

Mr Dalzell said consents for the project were on track to be lodged with Environment Canterbury in August. Construction would take about 18-24 months.

He said the geotech investigations would move into the river bed later this month and 30m bores would be drilled at the pier locations to sample the geology.

Mayor Brown said NZTA would be regularly updating Council about bridge progress but people could also sign up for email newsletters at www.nzta.govt.nz/2AB

Concept images and more information would be shared with the public next month.