Removal of swing bridge in Ruahines

Last week the six swing bridges in the Ruahine Forest Park were inspected by the DOC Engineer, one failed because all of its anchors need to be replaced. The bridge that failed was Maropea Swing bridge, located on the river between Otukota Hut and Iron Bark Hut (1864805E, 5602055N). This bridge is now closed and will be removed by the end of June. The bridge to be removed is not used much, there will still be all weather access (a few years ago two additional bridges by Iron Bark hut and a section of new track from pt 770 to Iron Bark hut were put in) and the removal will only result in one minor increase (20min) in a route time. The cost of removal is far less than that of repairing it. Signage at a number of points including at Otukota Hut, Iron Bark Hut, Maropea Forks Hut, Colenso Hut, Mokai Road end and a couple of junctions will be put in place. The Ruahine User Group meeting supported the removal of this bridge.