Tonga's expanding capital Nuku'alofa, will be connected to eastern Tongatapu with the building of a 720m bridge, to span the Fanga‘uta Lagoon at its narrowest point, in a massive USD$55 million development project set for completion by 2024.

The Fanga'uta Bridge running from 'Umusi to Folaha is expected to carry around 13,000 to 15,000 vehicles per day based on 2018 traffic modelling.

It will open up eastern Nuku'alofa settlements to new development and may cut in half the travel time from Queen Salote Wharf to Fua‘amotu Airport.

The bridge with cycling paths and footpaths will, importantly, provide a tsunami evacuation route from the heavily populated narrow peninsula of the capital to the relatively higher ground of central and eastern Tongatapu.

The location was selected from five options that have been studied over several years.

The bridge will require the construction of new primary connecting roads and roundabouts, which it is understood will require some land acquisitions before the project is ready to start. Government is responsible for the acquisitions and “readiness”.

New primary roads will be built to connect the bridge to By Pass Road at the Small Industries Centre and to Taufa'ahau Road at the entrance to Vaini.

The project is expected to cost around USD$55 million, financed by the Asian Development Bank in one of Tonga's largest infrastructure projects to date.

Public Consulation

At a Public Consultation held at Houmakelikao on 13 February, officials from the Land Transport Division of the Ministry of Infrastructure spoke about the project.

‘Ana Bing Fonua, leader of the Consultation Team from the Land Transport Division, said that public consultations on the Fanga‘uta Bridge Project were scheduled to start in December 2019, but because of the measles out-break it was deferred to January 2020.

Andria Tora (MoI) said that at this stage of the Fanga’uta Bridge Project, they could let the public know that a 720 meters bridge will run from ‘Umusi to Folaha, there will be a cycling lane and foot path, and there will be roundabouts at both ends of the bridge, giving drivers options of where they want to go.

The bridge will be constructed by a Japanese company, and Japanese engineers were expected to arrive in country soon.

She said that other issues relating to the project such as the impact on the environment, and the standard of the structure of the bridge they would not deal with at this consultation gathering.

Technical considerations

The Asian Development Bank in partnership with the Government of Tonga signed a Project Readiness Facility for the preparation of the Fanga'uta Lagoon Bridge Project in December 2019.

It is understood that a technical meeting for the bridge project was held on 22  January 2020. At least 10 project surveys are involved, considering the basic design conditions, the bridge structure, elevations, navigation clearance, seismic loads, rainwater drainage, evacuation route, geophyscial and geological investigations, land reclamation, and flood areas. The roads development surveys are looking at how the project impacts the urban master plan of the city area, route studies and options to minimize land acquisition. The roads designs will consider safety alignments, shortcuts and traffic capacities, safety and smoothness of traffic flow.

The Fanga'uta Bridge is expected to speed up the flow of traffic into and out of the capital and reduce Tonga's spending on imported fuel.