Engineers find proposed clip-on walkway too heavy for Lower Hutt’s century-old Ava rail bridge as mid-2026 deadline is missed

The replacement walkway designed to reconnect pedestrians and cyclists across Te Awa Kairangi Hutt River has hit a serious engineering snag, with KiwiRail confirming the proposed clip-on structure is too heavy for the century-old Ava rail bridge.

The original wooden walkway, which ran beside the rail line between Ava and Woburn stations in Lower Hutt, was demolished last year so KiwiRail could upgrade ageing sleepers and rails on the metro network. A clip-on steel pathway bolted to the side of the rail bridge was meant to take its place by the middle of this year. That deadline will now be missed.

KiwiRail Wellington metro network general manager Andy Lyon told Local Democracy Reporting that engineers had concluded the design as drawn could not safely be attached. “The weight of the shared pathway, as originally proposed, imposes a very different loading from the original walkway and reduces the overall resilience of the bridge,” Lyon said.

The narrow timber walkway that came down had carried only foot traffic. The replacement was always going to be heavier because it was sized for both pedestrians and cyclists, with handrails and decking built to current standards. When engineers ran the loading calculations against what the 100-year-old rail bridge can actually support, the numbers did not work.

Hutt City Council’s infrastructure and regulatory committee will hold a workshop after its meeting on Thursday to pick a new direction. 1News reports that six alternative options are on the table. They include strengthening the rail bridge so it can carry a clip-on after all, building a stand-alone pedestrian and cycle bridge alongside, or walking away from a replacement entirely and pointing users to existing crossings.

The two nearest alternative crossings sit about a kilometre away at Waione Street and Ewen bridge. For commuters, school children and older residents who used the Ava walkway as the shortest pedestrian route between Petone, Alicetown and Woburn, that detour is significant. In January 2025, more than 220 residents of the Bob Scott Retirement Village in Petone signed a petition calling on the Government and council to restore a footbridge at Ava.

That petition appears to have helped unlock the funding. Transport Minister and Hutt South MP Chris Bishop agreed to split the cost with Hutt City Council, with the Government and council each contributing to a $4.8 million budget. That figure was based on the original clip-on design. With that approach now off the table, no one can yet say what the new option will cost or whether it will exceed the agreed envelope.

Hutt City Council, led by Mayor Ken Laban, is now considering its options. The challenge is reconnecting the two sides of the river without a costly stand-alone bridge of its own and without compromising the structural integrity of the rail crossing it sits next to. The council project page describes the walkway as an essential connection for the eastern Hutt suburbs, used by hundreds of people a day before the closure.

KiwiRail completed the rail bridge upgrade itself earlier this year, so trains continue to run on the new sleepers and rails between Wellington and Upper Hutt without disruption. The contractor lined up to deliver the walkway, GK Shaw Limited, had been due to start work as soon as the rail track upgrades finished in late January. Instead, GK Shaw is now waiting on the council’s revised brief.

A stand-alone pedestrian and cycle bridge would be the most permanent answer but also the most expensive, because it would need its own piers driven into the riverbed and abutments on both banks. Strengthening the existing rail bridge to carry a clip-on would keep some of the original concept alive but would require detailed engineering on a structure that is already a century into its working life. Engineers will also have to weigh seismic strengthening, given the rail bridge sits in one of the most active fault zones in the country and the wider Wellington metro network has been the subject of ongoing earthquake resilience work.

For local cyclists, the loss of the Ava crossing has reopened a long-standing debate about east-west connectivity along the lower Hutt River. The Hutt River Trail runs the length of the valley on the eastern bank, and the Ava walkway was one of the few low-traffic places to switch sides without sharing a road bridge with cars and trucks. Cycling advocates have been pushing for years for more dedicated active-transport links across the river.

In a statement to Hutt City News last September, the council said engineering experts were working at pace to find the best solution. That framing has now shifted to a longer process, with a community update promised in the coming months. Whichever option the council selects, the project will need fresh design work, fresh costings and, almost certainly, a fresh contract before construction can begin.

Until then, residents on both sides of the bridge will continue to walk or ride the longer route via Ewen and Waione. For those who relied on the Ava walkway every day, that is a reminder that infrastructure people barely notice when it is working can be sorely missed once it is gone.

Have you used the Ava walkway, or do you live near another community crossing that has been closed off without an obvious replacement? Share your thoughts in the comments below.