The Thames-Coromandel District Council is advising Tairua locals that construction on the bridge extension at Manaia Rd causeway will begin soon.

This work is to help with flood management improvements around Graham's Creek and is a joint project with the Waikato Regional Council.

Construction on the bridge extension at Manaia Rd in Tairua will be starting soon. Photo: Google Maps

Once the causeway bridge extension work gets underway, the regional council will then embark on stop-banking and re-contouring of the flood plain and creek channel.

TCDC's Tairua-Pauanui area manager Garry Towler explains that the bridge will be extended by 16m.

'[This] will help keep the road open during flooding and allow floodwater to drain more easily when combined with floodway improvement works done by the regional council.”

Consents for both the Thames-Coromandel and the Waikato Regional councils' components of the project were granted in June.

The tender for the manufacture and supply of the pre-stressed concrete bridge components has been awarded and the tender for the construction of the bridge extension closed early September.

Once underway, works should take 6-8 weeks to complete, which means the bridge extension project remains on track for completion by the end of November 2015.

The regional council will then begin floodway and stopbank construction, which should take around 12 months.

This will be followed by restoration planting in the area which will be completely finished in 2017. Some 12,000 plants may be put into the ground and community volunteers will be asked to help

Tairua-Pauanui Community Board chair Bob Renton says this project has seen a strong collaboration between regional and district council, plus the stakeholders working group which he is a member of.

'We are so pleased there's been a workable solution and a successful outcome,” adds Bob.