We’re finished with the entree, so it’s time to get stuck into the main course as the Lower Queen Street bridge replacement project moves into phase two.

After four months of work on the underground services, 957 metres of new water and wastewater mains were installed, followed by the construction of the temporary bridge and bypass, we are now ready to get on with the big job.

Stage one was building the new bypass road, which opened last month, two weeks ahead of schedule.

Now it’s time for us to shift focus. The old bridge has been demolished, and construction of the new 48-metre-long bridge has begun.

Pile driving for the new structure is underway, so there will be some noise and vibrations at times, like when we drove the piles for the bypass bridge.

The piling work will be done only during the day on weekdays and the occasional Saturday, and it won’t be constant. This part of the project will take about three months.

Meanwhile, as a reward for coming up with a new name for the massive 250-tonne crawler crane on site, Daniel Palmer took away a prize pack, and along with three of his fellow year nine Waimea College science class students, was treated to an up close and personal tour of the newly renamed “Captain Hook”.