As at 31 October 2015 the Upper Hutt City Council had not determined the cause of the failure, but it indicated that the bridge would probably need to be replaced and this would probably take several months to a year to happen. To provide emergency access to residents, the council announced that it had asked a road contractor to build an access road from Totara Park along the route of the Hutt River Trail on the western side of the Hutt River.