Auckland Harbour Bridge | |
|---|---|
.jpg) Auckland Harbour Bridge, seen from the North Shore looking toward Auckland City (2013). | |
| Coordinates | 36°49′46″S 174°44′47″E / 36.82944°S 174.74639°E |
| Carries |
|
| Crosses | Waitematā Harbour |
| Locale | Auckland, New Zealand |
| Begins | Westhaven |
| Ends | Northcote Point |
| Maintained by | NZ Transport Agency |
| Characteristics | |
| Design |
|
| Trough construction | Steel |
| Pier construction | Concrete |
| Total length | 1,020 metres (3,350 ft) |
| Width |
|
| Height | 64 metres (210 ft) from arch truss top to water |
| Longest span | 243.8 metres (800 ft) |
| No. of spans | 9 |
| Piers in water | 6 |
| Load limit | Clip-ons: 13.0 tonnes (28,700 lb) |
| Clearance above | Inner lanes: 4.8 metres (16 ft)[1] |
| Clearance below | 43 metres (141 ft) at high tide |
| No. of lanes |
|
| History | |
| Designer | Freeman Fox & Partners[2] |
| Constructed by |
|
| Construction start | original superstructure:
• 1967 |
| Construction end | original superstructure:
• September 1969 |
| Construction cost | original superstructure: £7,516,000 (1959 value) |
| Opened | original superstructure:
|
| Statistics | |
| Daily traffic |
|
| Toll | None (since 31 March 1984) |
| Location | |
 | |
The Auckland Harbour Bridge is an eight-lane motorway bridge over the Waitematā Harbour in Auckland, New Zealand. It joins St Marys Bay on the Auckland city side with Northcote on the North Shore side. It is part of State Highway 1 and the Auckland Northern Motorway. The bridge is operated by the NZ Transport Agency (NZTA).[3] It is the second-longest road bridge in New Zealand, and the longest in the North Island.[4]
The original inner four lanes, opened in 1959, are of box truss construction. Two lanes were added to each side in 1968–1969 and are of orthotropic box structure construction[5] extend as cantilevers from the original piers. The bridge is 1,020 m (3,348 ft) long, with a main span of 243.8 metres (800 feet) rising 43.27 metres (142 feet) above high water,[6] allowing ships access to the deepwater wharf at the Chelsea Sugar Refinery, one of the few such wharves west of the bridge.
While often considered an Auckland icon, many see the construction of the bridge without walking, cycling, and rail facilities as a big oversight. In 2016, an add-on structure providing a walk-and-cycleway called SkyPath received Council funding approval and planning consent, but was not built.[7][8] In 2021, a stand-alone walking and cycling bridge called the Northern Pathway was announced by the New Zealand Government, but also was not built.[9]
About 170,000 vehicles cross the bridge each day (as of 2019), including over 1,000 buses, which carry 38% of all people crossing during the morning peak.[10]
- ^ "General operating requirements that apply to all overdimension vehicles – Factsheet 53: Overdimension vehicles and loads – New Zealand Transport Agency". July 2005. Retrieved 2 June 2009.
- ^ Engineering to 1990, IPENZ, Engineering Publications Co Ltd, Page 11
- ^ "Auckland Harbour Bridge". NZ Transport Agency. Archived from the original on 15 March 2011. Retrieved 9 April 2012.
- ^ What is the longest bridge in New Zealand? Archived 19 June 2008 at the Wayback Machine (from the Transit New Zealand FAQ webpage. Retrieved 9 June 2008.)
- ^ "Auckland Harbour Bridge". Engineering New Zealand. 2019. Archived from the original on 13 August 2020. Retrieved 6 June 2019.
- ^ 1951–1961 The Auckland Harbour Bridge Authority Archived 7 February 2007 at the Wayback Machine (Auckland Harbour Board publication, 1960s)
- ^ "Auckland Council vote 'yes' on SkyPath". 21 July 2016. Retrieved 30 December 2016.
- ^ "SkyPath over Auckland Harbour Bridge gets green light". Radio New Zealand. 16 December 2016. Retrieved 30 December 2016.
- ^ Cite error: The named reference
:0was invoked but never defined (see the help page). - ^ "The next harbour crossing: road and rail, or just rail". The New Zealand Herald. 9 March 2019. Retrieved 9 March 2019.