Like other CERA designated orange-zones, that section of Oxford Tce was limbo-land: "Further assessment required" while CERA got Tonkin & Taylor geotech reports, placing inhabitants & property-owners under stress, as they couldn't live properly while officials dithered over quaked-land.
Land-zoning done by CERA had anomalies, so citizens asked for reviews of their land-zoning from green-zone to red-zone, or vice-versa. Others wanted CERA to stop dithering & make quicker land-decisions about orange-zones & white-zones.
I wanted to see four CBD bridges in the former cordoned red-zone, starting at Manchester St Bridge & trekking downriver to the end of Oxford Tce by Fitzgerald Ave Bridge.
Over 17 months so far, Christchurch roads had degenerated, some patch-repairs done by Council. Most bridges had survived quakes, traffic flowing, but concrete-abutments at either end of bridges were battered, cracked, spalled, part-separated from spans, due to shaking & riverbank-slumping. Some steel-handrails for pedestrians on bridge-sides were broken or skewed. Never mind riverbank-slumping below abutments & riverbed-slumping below piers. Would rebars in bridge-concrete stretch like elastic, snap, or bend?
I parked near Council Central Library, Peterborough St. Post 22 February 2011 Quake, Gloucester St Central Library was abandoned in the red-zone CBD. Whenever I drove Peterborough St towards Avon River it looked more derelict: ruins, overgrown-gardens, demolition-sites. Some businesses struggled on, some houses were inhabited.
Peterborough St: Some properties where I'd snapped months before were empty. Besides weedy sites, someone had sprinkled flower seeds to brighten up demolition-sites: poppies, daisies...
08.02.12. Quake trashed house, Peterborough St, post 23.12.11 quake swarm
Manchester St Bridge: Near PGC demolition-site, where 18 people died when the multi-storey collapsed in the 22 February 2011 Quake. Manchester St Bridge, concrete, one span, between Cambridge Tce & Oxford Tce looked OK. Footpath buckling between abutment & span, Cambridge Tce side.
EXTREME DANGER KEEP OUT. The bridge was still a checkpoint into the CBD red-zone, NZDF-soldiers checked vehicle entry by a steel-mesh-fence-cordon. Citizens were still banned from the CBD a year post 22 February 2011 Quake, demolitions ongoing, no rebuild yet.
17 months post 4 September 2010 Quake & one year post 22 February 2011 Quake, "rebuild" was a joke, as insurance payouts were delayed & insurers upped premiums complaining about "risk." Cantabrians were experiencing Disaster Capitalism by insurers, CERA, EQC, Fletcher, contractors & landlords. Our rent would soon rise! NZ National government's / CERA's red-zoning of ruined areas was Disaster Capitalism: citizens losing their land-rights & cheapskate offers from insurers & the Crown / NZ National govt land-grabbing the lot.
NZ National government did not protect residential red-zoners from slow insurers. Residential red-zoning by NZ National government benefitted insurers, not insured red-zone home-owners. Government red-zoning enabled insurers to pay less to red-zone home-owners for a like-for-like rebuild of their damaged homes. Never mind 2007 RV. According to protest leader Rev Coleman, red-zoners would have to go to the High Court to get fair payout from insurers. But citizens were pushing back by protests in parks & streets. I would attend several protests in 2012 for my blog pics.
08.02.12. Orange, plastic, road cones, steel mesh fence cordon. Checkpoint hut. NZDF checkpoint into CBD red zone, 1 year post 22.02.11 quake, Manchester St / Cambridge Tce. BNZ right would be demolished, 2013
08.02.12. EXTREME DANGER KEEP OUT. Orange, plastic, road cones, steel mesh fence cordon. Manchester St, NZDF checkpoint view, PGC bldg demolition site, Cambridge Tce, 1 year post 22.02.11 quake. 18 people died when PGC bldg collapsed. Both bldgs in the pic would be demolished, incl Ernst & Young beyond
08.02.12. Steel mesh fence cordon. Manchester St, NZDF checkpoint hut view, CBD red zone, 1 year post 22.02.11 quake. Both bldgs in the pic would be demolished incl Ernst & Young behind
18.02.12. Green portaloo, steel mesh fence cordon, checkpoint hut. NZDF checkpoint, Manchester St Bridge view, BNZ left & PWC right awaiting demolition, 1 year post 22.02.11 quake. More than a decade post quakes, a new RC Cathedral precinct would be built on the PWC demo site opp Town Hall, beside Avon River
Madras St Bridge: Angled concrete-bridge on an Avon River bend by Oxford Tce Baptist Church & The Poplars apartments demolition-sites. The northwest bridge-span was horizontally-rotated clockwise, concrete-corners sticking out, or crunched into abutments. During my trekkings, I would see horizontal-rotation of concrete-spans on several Christchurch bridges. There was spalling at the concrete-bridge abutments & concrete-footpaths & concrete-steps by the 9/11 Firefighters Reserve.
Near Madras St Bridge, Edmonds Clock Tower: The clock was still stopped at 12.51pm when the 22 February 2011 Quake struck.
08.02.12. Novo bldg, demolition site, by Shipley bldg, Madras St / Peterborough St, 1 year post 22.02.11 quake
08.02.12. Concrete spalling between abutment & span, Madras St Bridge, Kilmore St, 1 year post 22.02.11 quake
08.02.12. Steel mesh fence cordon. Madras St Bridge view, The Poplars demolition site, CBD red zone, 1 year post 22.02.11. quake. Edmonds Clock Tower right, clock still stopped at 12.51 pm, when the 22.02.11 quake struck
08.02.12. 9/11 Firefighters Reserve sign, Madras St Bridge, Oxford Tce, 1 year post 22.02.11 quake
08.02.12. Quake damaged pavement & curb, Madras St Bridge, Oxford Tce, 1 year post 22.02.11 quake
08.02.12. Spalled concrete steps, Madras St Bridge, Oxford Tce, 1 year post 22.02.11 quake
08.02.12. Quake gap in paving, 9/11 Firefighters Reserve, Madras St Bridge, Oxford Tce, 1 year post 22.02.11 quake
08.02.12. Oxford Tce view, Madras St Bridge abutment, sinking into Avon River mud, 1 year post 22.02.11 quake. See spalling & hand rail levels behind 9/11 Firefighters Memorial
08.02.12. Oxford Tce view, 9/11 Firefighters Reserve, Madras St Bridge over Avon River, 1 year post 22.02.11 quake
Two Madras St Bridge concrete-abutments had moved / sunk about a foot on Avon River bank, Kilmore St side. I often used my size six jandal (11 inches / 27cm long) to measure depth / width of quake-cracks.
08.02.12. Quake split hand rail on Madras St Bridge abutment, Kilmore St side, 1 year post 22.02.11 quake
08.02.12. Concrete spalling & movement / sinking of Madras St Bridge abutments, by 9/11 Firefighters Reserve, Kilmore St side, 1 year post 22.02.11 quake
Barbadoes St Bridge by The Bricks: Concrete, one span. Concrete-spalling at bridge-abutments. The span was horizontally-rotated anti-clockwise, opposite rotation to Madras St Bridge. Some Christchurch footbridges would be demolished, like Medway St Footbridge (stored at Ferrymead). It would be years before bridges were fixed properly by SCIRT.
Barbadoes St Cemetery stone wall, which collapsed on Cambridge Tce in the 22 February 2011 Quake: unfixed, just a mud- bank. Months before, post 22 February 2011 Quake, when I'd trekked past during wet weather, noxious fluids oozed from the cemetery in quakemire, across the sunken road into Avon River!
08.02.12. FOOTPATH CLOSED. White digger. Post quake road works, Cambridge Tce / Barbadoes St, 1 year post 22.02.11 quake
08.02.12. Quake damaged, concrete spalling & sinking between abutment & span, Barbadoes St Bridge, Cambridge Tce / Barbadoes St, 1 year post 22.02.11 quake
Barbadoes St Bridge: Concrete, one span. One concrete-abutment, cracked, leaning about four inches away from the span. On the other side of the bridge on Avon River bank, a concrete drain's manhole slumped towards Avon River.
08.02.12. Anti-clockwise span rotation from abutment, Barbadoes St Bridge, Oxford Tce side, 1 year post 22.02.11 quake
08.02.12. Tarseal patch repair. Quake movement & cracking of concrete abutment away from span, Barbadoes St Bridge, 1 year post 22.02.11 quake. Anti-clockwise rotation of span clearly seen
08.02.12. Concrete manhole, quake slumped on Avon River bank, Barbadoes St Bridge, 1 year post 22.02.11 quake
08.02.12. House demolition site, nr Barbadoes St Bridge, Barbadoes St / Cambridge Tce, 1 year post 22.02.11 quake
Oxford Tce: Steel-mesh-fence-cordoned Holiday Inn ruin was a mess, worse than what I'd seen post 22 February 2011 Quake when workmen did patch-repairs to the road. Some Oxford Tce houses were still inhabited in the orange-zone, most were red-stickered or abandoned between house demolition-sites. Off Oxford Tce, Bangor St an old brick-building, the pump-house leaned towards Avon River. In Avon Loop, Bangor St the pump-house would be the only building surviving quakes & CERA's residential red-zoning.
Holiday Inn would be demolished in July 2015.
08.02.12. Steel mesh fence cordon. Quake damaged, abandoned, Holiday Inn, Oxford Tce, 1 year post 22.02.11 quake. Holiday Inn would be demolished, July 2015
08.02.12. Quake damaged, boarded house, orange zone, Oxford Tce / Willow St, 1 year post 22.02.11 quake
08.02.12. Quake damaged, liquefactioned house, orange zone, Oxford Tce, 1 year post 22.02.11 quake
Why CERA took so long deciding on orange-zoned Oxford Tce land, only CERA could explain. Anyone could see Oxford Tce was finished. Only idiots would want to redevelop that ruined riverside-land again!br />
Swampland rebuild: "Land remediation" was engineer-speak for funding for decades to come. Engineers would use taxpayers' money to make underground explosions, then check soil results. Reasoning: they were checking "liquefaction" effects, so they could improve concrete- foundations in post-quake buildings. CERA minister Brownlee & State Housing minister Smith extolled such nonsense! Anyone walking any Christchurch riverbank could see liquefaction-ruination of concrete-foundations, concrete-curbs & concrete-drains...
In 1987-88 when I'd worked for DeBeers Koffiefontein mine in SA, I experienced earthquakes caused by underground mine explosions. The effects were different from Christchurch quakes. Mining explosion waves were higher frequency than quake-waves. During one mine quake, I stood near our lemon tree, the tree quivered & leaves rustled in sync with the high frequency waves. I'd never seen trees quiver like that in Christchurch quakes. Seismic waves in Christchurch caused trees to move up & down while a wave passed. I experienced that once while holding onto our nectarine tree when a quake-wave passed.
So post-quakes, the one metre thick concrete-slabs which engineers evolved for liquefaction-prone-land, wouldn't stop a house on its thick slab floating up & down in a big quake. The thickened concrete-slab would hopefully just stop quakemire penetrating the house floor. I doubted the thickened concrete-slab foundation would stop liquefaction-flooding, as garden soil level would be level with the foundation-slab's top & ground-settlement would cause flooding during liquefaction. The only real test for a house on a thicker concrete-slab foundation would be another big quake, not underground explosions!
08.02.12. Steel mesh fence cordon. Quake tilted, Bangor St pump house, orange zone, 1 year post 22.02.11 quake. Bangor St pump house would survive the quakes
08.02.12. Quake tilted power pole. Liquefaction mud pile, orange zone, Oxford Tce / Bangor St, 1 year post 22.02.11 quake
08.02.12. SLOW PLEASE. Postal delivery, orange zone, Oxford Tce, 1 year post 22.02.11 quake
08.02.12. Quake cracked, slumped, orange zone, Oxford Tce, 1 year post 22.02.11 quake. Slumping due to lateral spreading
08.02.12. Quake damaged, boarded, slumlord rental house, orange zone, Oxford Tce, 1 year post 22.02.11 quake
Oxford Tce: Meanwhile, some ruined-houses were red-stickered, uninhabitable by Council, others were green-stickered, inhabitable. Anyone living in Oxford Tce, imbibing silt-dust & hearing the Fitzgerald Ave pile-driver & road rebuild clamour for months, would've gone bonkers at Council's & CERA's bureaucratic inertia.
By Jake's old rental, on a power-pole, a hand-written sign:
S
L
O
W
PLEASE
The hand-made speed-limit sign cajoled passing cars, not CERA's inertia.
08.02.12. Quake damaged housing, orange zone, Oxford Tce, 1 year post 22.02.11 quake
08.02.12. Apartments demolition site, orange zone, Oxford Tce, 1 year post 22.02.11 quake
Deep, wide slumping cracks, I'd seen months before, were still beside the road on Avon River bank. Little was done by Council road workers to infill. The house which Jake rented pre-quakes was cracked & boarded. Quakemire-mounds I'd seen on footpaths months before were still there. Oxford Tce: dusty, bumpy, gravel repaired. Council's City Care?
08.02.12. Quake cracked, slumped, orange zone, Oxford Tce, 1 year post 22.02.11 quake. Slumping due to lateral spreading
08.02.12. Orange zone, Oxford Tce view, Avon River & Fitzgerald Ave road works, 1 year post 22.02.11 quake
Across Avon River, Fitzgerald Ave north-bound lane which collapsed riverside in the 22 February 2011 Quake was being rebuilt, months of construction work: a large concrete retaining-wall riverside & traffic congestion the other side of the road. I drove that congested road daily taking Luke to Sullivan Ave polytech lectures.
08.02.12. House demolition site & quake damaged house, orange zone, Oxford Tce, 1 year post 22.02.11 quake
2011: When I'd driven Luke to polytech in the mornings, we'd watched Fitzgerald Ave rebuild progress: a pile-driver noisily drove concrete columns into river-mud. Fitzgerald Ave north-bound rebuild neared completion after a year of traffic congestion. The other side of the road would then be rebuilt. Pity stalwarts existing nearby.
That rebuilt north-bound lane was poor engineering: quakes rose Avon River bed, but the new north-bound lane was built too low by that Avon River bend. In future whenever Avon River flooded, rebuilt north-bound lane would flood too!
Oxford Tce within Avon Loop would eventually be red-zoned by CERA. All red-zone houses would be demolished by CERA, including Jake's old rental.
08.02.12. Quake damaged, orange zone, Oxford Tce, nr Kilmore St crossing, 1 year post 22.02.11 quake
Fitzgerald Ave / Avonside Dr / Kilmore St intersection: Congested traffic channeled by orange / white-plastic-bollards from Bealey Ave to one side of Fitzgerald Ave was due to the rebuild of collapsed north-bound Fitzgerald Ave & Fitzgerald Ave Bridge repair. Traffic congestion continued for a year post 22 February 2011 Quake.
Fitzgerald Ave Bridge: Concrete, two spans, anti-clockwise rotated. Only half used & traffic congested due to the nearby road rebuild. Construction crew & equipment occupied the other half of the bridge. Bridge abutments were spalled in places There were patched cracks across the road before the bridge. Kilmore St side, the concrete-abutment was cracked & tagged. Post-quake tagging became a problem in Christchurch. All those newly bared walls to spray-paint! Thereafter, Christchurch became renowned for its mural-art!br />
08.02.12. Orange zone, Oxford Tce downriver view, Fitzgerald Ave Bridge over Avon River, 1 year post 22.02.11 quake
08.02.12. Quake cracked, concrete abutment & tagging, Fitzgerald Ave Bridge / Kilmore St, 1 year post 22.02.11 quake
08.02.12. FOOTPATH CLOSED. N view, Fitzgerald Ave road works, Fitzgerald Ave Bridge, 1 year post 22.02.11 quake
08.02.12. White / orange, plastic bollards, steel mesh fence cordon. Fitzgerald Ave Bridge S view, quake demolition site, Kilmore St / Fitzgerald Ave, 1 year post 22.02.11 quake
08.02.12. White / orange, plastic bollard cordon. Fitzgerald Ave Bridge view, post quake, traffic channelling, Fitzgerald Ave / Kilmore St, 1 year post 22.02.11 quake
08.02.12. Fitzgerald Ave Bridge view, post quake, traffic channelling by white / orange, plastic bollards, Avonside Dr / Fitzgerald Ave, 1 year post 22.02.11 quake
08.02.12. White, plastic bollard cordon. Fitzgerald Ave Bridge view, serial quake trashed house, Fitzgerald Ave, 1 year post 22.02.11 quake
08.02.12. Quake gaps between concrete abutment & span, Fitzgerald Ave Bridge, 1 year post 22 02.11 quake
River Rd side, concrete abutment leaned at an odd angle, metal handrails split by the Feb 22 Killer Quake. Bridge concrete paving, spalled too, pipes seen below concrete.
08.02.12. Orange, plastic, road cones, steel mesh fence cordon. N view, Fitzgerald Ave Bridge, 1 year post 22.02.11 quake. Fitzgerald Ave, N bound, road works left
08.02.12. Concrete spalling by span & abutment, Fitzgerald Ave Bridge / Avonside Dr, 1 year post 22.02.11 quake
08.02.12. Shipping container offices. Orange, plastic, road cones, steel mesh fence cordon. Avonside Dr, N view, Fitzgerald Ave Bridge, 22.02.11 quake tilted, concrete abutment, River Rd side, 1 year post 22.02.11 quake
08.02.12. N view, quake cracked, concrete paving, Fitzgerald Ave Bridge, 1 year post 22.02.11 quake
08.02.12. Orange, plastic, road cones, steel mesh fence cordon. Fitzgerald Ave Bridge view, serial quake trashed, brick house, Fitzgerald Ave / River Rd, 1 year post 22.02.11 quake. The house would be demolished
08.02.12. Avon River bank, span anti-clockwise rotation, slumping & tilting of concrete abutment / handrail, away from span, Fitzgerald Ave Bridge / River Rd, 1 year post 22.02.11 quake
08.02.12. S view, Fitzgerald Ave Bridge to Pickwicks demolition site, Fitzgerald Ave / Kilmore St, 1 year post 22.02.11 quake
08.02 12. Northern view, Fitzgerald Ave Bridge to Fitzgerald Ave north-bound, road works, 1 year post 22.02.11 quake
Council still had a big job to repair those four Avon River bridges. There were many more broken Avon River bridges for Council to repair. Council roads & bridge repairs would be incorporated into SCIRT, which would take years to repair Christchurch roads & bridges properly.
08.02.12. Orange zone, Oxford Tce, NW, upriver view, Avon River bend, nr Fitzgerald Ave Bridge, 1 year post 22.02.11 quake
08.02.11. The Press quoted Property Council's Connal Townshend who complained about Council's rebuild plan:
"There's no incentive for bringing buildings up to earthquake standards & that affects all our cities not just Christchurch."
Tell that to the families of the 185 quake dead Townshend!
*Trekked Peterborough St, Manchester St, Madras St, Barbadoes St, Oxford Tce, Fitzgerald Ave. 133 snaps.
Wednesday 08.02.12: 9.08pm, M4.2 quake, 9km depth, 10km SE of Lyttelton.
11.06pm, M4.3 quake, 9km depth, 10km E of Lyttelton.
Thursday 09.02.12. 0.51am, M4.2 quake, 9km depth, 10km E of Lyttelton. (GeoNet)
Felt them all.
As so many old & new buildings failed in Christchurch during the 22 February 2011 Quake, designers, architects, engineers & builders had nothing to be proud of. Poor building-inspections by engineers pertained. Canterbury was a known liquefaction-region long before the quakes.
Suckled on Accident Compensation Corporation payouts, Kiwis had a "no blame, no lawsuit" mentality. "Mother Nature's to blame" cried deluded people.
I was sceptical of inspections regarding red-stickering, green-stickering & yellow-stickering of buildings post 4 September 2010 Quake. 17 months later, stickers showed disparate checking & shoddy building-inspections. Building-owners' tardiness regarding inspections was shown at the Royal Commission of Inquiry. Engineers just stuck to the latest revised building-code. Even if a building was built to code, there was no guarantee the building would not collapse in a quake!
Death toll was recently revised from 182 to 185. Three more people died from long-term quake-injuries.
A year post 22 February 2011 Quake, orange-zoners & white-zoners still waited for geotech engineers Tonkin & Taylor to check their land properly. Disaster Capitalism insurers just delayed payments, awaiting Tonkin & Taylor's land-zoning.
Anyone driving around Christchurch could see ruins awaiting slow zoning: broken-buildings, masonry lying where it fell, tarps blown off roofs, weedy lots, grey-quakemire still on properties. A mess, compounded by by slow CERA & slow Tonkin & Taylor geotech engineers.
Content & pics Copyright Mark JS Esslemont.
See Rebuild at risk in new city plan (The Press / Stuff Co).
See Limbo land shrinks as properties red-zoned (The Press / Stuff Co).
See Shock and relief at red zonings (The Press / Stuff Co).
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