The bridges in New Zealand are many and varied but only date back to the beginning of European settlement in the mid 19th century.
The bridges in New Zealand are many and varied but only date back to the beginning of European settlement in the mid 19th century.
In 2011 there were 4,024 bridges on State Highways, with a total length of 142 km (88 mi) (1.3% of SH length). There were 13,726 232 km (144 mi) of bridges in urban areas, also forming 1.3% of their length. 7,567 of them were single lane bridges. The 120 bridges on special-purpose roads formed only 3.7 km (2.3 mi), or 0.7% of their length. The carbon footprint of the bridges was estimated to be 37.5 times that of their roads. [1]
Some of the longest bridges on the state highway network are: [2]
New Zealand, due to its low traffic density, has had many single lane bridges. Some of those still exist on the state highway network and are criticised by road users. [3] These are progressively replaced with two lane structures. The oldest and one of the longest single lane bridge on the state highway network until December 2011 was the 463-metre (1,519 ft) Kopu Bridge spanning the Waihou River, [4] this was replaced by a 580-metre (1,900 ft), two-lane structure, which opened to traffic on 12 December 2011. [5]
There are 1,787 bridges on the rail network in New Zealand which are maintained by KiwiRail, the infrastructure arm of the New Zealand Railways Corporation, though a 2011 study said there were 1,636 bridges, with a total length of 63.8 km (39.6 mi). [1]
Historically many bridges were combined road and rail bridges. Some were “double-decker” with the rail track above the roadway. e.g. the Awatere River bridge north of Seddon in Marlborough, and Okahukura in the King Country. Most were one (road) lane wide. Many had combined decks particularly in areas with low traffic, so drivers had to navigate over raised rail tracks. In 2004 there were five left; two on the heritage Otago Central Railway. Two were at Arahura and Taramakau between Greymouth and Hokitika. on the West Coast, where the line had only two trains a day. Several former bridges were in Canterbury, over wide braided rivers; e.g. over the Rakaia River (at 1.75 km the longest bridge on the network), the Rangitaka River and on the boundary with Otago the Waitaki River (opened 1876) . They all lasted into the 20th century; the last to be replaced was the Waitaki River bridge (opened 1876), where a new road bridge was opened in 1956, and new rail bridge shortly afterwards.The busy Waitaki River bridge on the South Island Main Trunk had two lanes, and “bridge keepers” closed the road bridge gates to the bridge when in use by trains. There are two bridges on the State Highway on West Coast that have rail lines on the road carriageway. Until 2008 the Awatere River bridge had a rail line above the road way. A new road bridge was constructed with the railway now being the sole use of the original bridge. A combined bridge was at Pekatahi, between Edgecumbe and Taneatua in the Bay of Plenty (the rail line in 2004 was unused, but not closed). [6]
Two bridges on now-closed sections of the East Coast Main Trunk line are still in use by road-traffic only. The single deck Pekatahi Bridge, which spans the Whakatāne River near Taneatua carries State Highway Two and it used to carry the mothballed rails of the ECMT the tracks were removed in 2019. The rare double-deck road-rail bridge at Karangahake Gorge, which crosses the Ohinemuri River, still carries a local road on the lower level, whilst on the upper level, the railway has been replaced by a walkway.
Since there are numerous large rivers in New Zealand many footbridges have been constructed in the backcountry. During the 1950s many bridges were built, along with backcountry huts, to give hunters access to forested areas to cull introduced deer which had by that stage become a serious pest. Some of the bridges still remain but other have been washed away or replaced with new ones and are now often used due to the popularity of tramping (hiking).
On April 30, during the 1951 New Zealand waterfront dispute a rail bridge three miles from Huntly, on the Glen Afton branch line, was dynamited. [7] [8] [9] Although the morning passenger train ran over the damaged bridge, it did not collapse. [9] After regular railway line patrols were commenced, trains ran normally again the next day. [7] [10]
The Tangiwai disaster on 24 December 1953, was the worst rail accident in New Zealand. The rail bridge over the Whangaehu river at Tangiwai had been badly damaged by a lahar from Mount Ruapehu just minutes before a passenger train was due to cross it. 151 of the 285 passengers aboard the train were killed.
In 1986 the New Zealand Army built the Te Rata Bridge as a training exercise on a private farm owned by the Berryman family. In 1994 a beekeeper visiting the farm was killed when the bridge collapsed as he drove over it. The incident caused a series of high-profile court cases. [11]
On 26 March 2019, the Waiho Bridge near Franz Josef Glacier collapsed, following near record levels of rain. [12] It was rebuilt and reopened 18 days later on 13 April 2019. [13]
The Tangiwai disaster was a deadly railway accident that occurred at 10:21 p.m. on 24 December 1953, when a railway bridge over the Whangaehu River collapsed beneath an express passenger train at Tangiwai, North Island, New Zealand. The locomotive and the first six carriages derailed into the river, killing 151 people. The subsequent board of inquiry found that the accident was caused by the failure of the tephra dam holding back nearby Mount Ruapehu's crater lake, creating a rapid mudflow (lahar) in the Whangaehu River which destroyed one of the bridge piers at Tangiwai only minutes before the train reached the bridge. The volcano at Mount Ruapehu was not erupting at the time. The disaster remains New Zealand's worst rail accident.
The Taramakau River is a river of the West Coast Region of the South Island of New Zealand. It rises in the Southern Alps / Kā Tiritiri o te Moana near Harper Pass, 80 kilometres (50 mi) due east of Hokitika, and runs westward for 75 kilometres (47 mi) into the Tasman Sea 15 kilometres (9.3 mi) south of Greymouth.
Seddon is a small town in Marlborough, New Zealand. It is located 25 kilometres (16 mi) south of Blenheim, close to the mouths of the Awatere and Blind Rivers and the Lake Grassmere salt works.
The Awatere River is a large river flowing through Marlborough, New Zealand. Flowing along the trace of the active Awatere Fault, it runs northeast through a straight valley to the west of the Inland Kaikōura mountains. This valley is parallel with that of the Waiau Toa / Clarence River, 20 kilometres (12 mi) to the south.
The Midland line is a 212 km section of railway between Rolleston and Greymouth in the South Island of New Zealand. The line features five major bridges, five viaducts and 17 tunnels, the longest of which is the Otira tunnel. It is the route of the popular TranzAlpine passenger train.
The Ross Branch, officially known as the Hokitika Line since 2011, and previously as the Hokitika Industrial Line, is a branch line railway that forms part of New Zealand's national rail network. It is located in the Westland District of the South Island's West Coast region and opened to Hokitika in 1893. A further extension to Ross operated from 1909 until 1980.
The Medway Viaducts are three bridges or viaducts that cross the River Medway between Cuxton and Borstal in north Kent, England. The two road bridges carry the M2 motorway carriageways. The other viaduct carries the High Speed 1 railway line linking London and the Channel Tunnel. All three bridges pass over the Medway Valley Line.
The East Coast Main Trunk (ECMT) is a railway line in the North Island of New Zealand, originally running between Hamilton and Taneatua via Tauranga, connecting the Waikato with the Bay of Plenty. The ECMT now runs between Hamilton and Kawerau, with a branch line to Taneatua from the junction at Hawkens. The line is built to narrow gauge of 1,067 mm, the uniform gauge in New Zealand. It was known as the East Coast Main Trunk Railway until 2011, when the word "Railway" was dropped.
Franz Josef is a small town in the West Coast region of the South Island of New Zealand. Whataroa is 32 kilometres (20 mi) to the north-east, and the township of Fox Glacier is 23 kilometres (14 mi) to the south-west. The Waiho River runs from the Franz Josef Glacier to the south, through the town, and into the Tasman Sea to the north-west.
The Stratford–Okahukura Line (SOL) is a secondary railway line in the North Island of New Zealand, between the Marton - New Plymouth Line (MNPL) and the North Island Main Trunk (NIMT) Railway, with 15 intermediate stations. It is 144 km (89 mi) long through difficult country, with 24 tunnels, 91 bridges and a number of sections of 1 in 50 grade. Near Okahukura there is an unusual combined road-rail bridge over the Ongarue River, with the one-lane road carriageway below the single rail track. The line is not currently in service for rail traffic and is under a 30-year lease for a tourist venture. In July 2019 KiwiRail's CEO stated that reopening the line was a priority. Minister of Transport Michael Wood announced the government's 10-year plan for rail investment on 6 May 2021, which specifically stated that plans could include re-opening the Stratford to Okahukura line.
The Palmerston North–Gisborne Line (PNGL) is a secondary main line railway in the North Island of New Zealand. It branches from the North Island Main Trunk at Palmerston North and runs east through the Manawatū Gorge to Woodville, where it meets the Wairarapa Line, and then proceeds to Hastings and Napier in Hawke's Bay before following the coast north to Gisborne. Construction began in 1872, but the entire line was not completed until 1942. The line crosses the runway of Gisborne Airport, one of the world's few railways to do so since Pakistan's Khyber Pass Railway closed.
State Highway 6 is a major New Zealand state highway. It extends from the Marlborough region in the northeastern corner of the South Island across the top of the island, then down the length of the island, initially along the West Coast and then across the Southern Alps through inland Otago and finally across the Southland Plains to the island's south coast. Distances are measured from north to south.
The Moutohora Branch was a branch line railway that formed part of New Zealand's national rail network in Poverty Bay in the North Island of New Zealand. The branch ran for 78 km approximately North-West from Gisborne into the rugged and steep Raukumara Range to the terminus at Moutohora. Construction started in 1900, and the line was opened to Moutohora on 26 November 1917.
State Highway 73 is a major east-west South Island state highway in New Zealand connecting Christchurch on the east coast with Cass/Hokitika via the Southern Alps. It is mostly two lane, with some single-lane bridges north of Springfield but is mostly dual carriageway in Christchurch. The fourth and fifth-highest points of New Zealand's state highway network are on this road at Porters Pass and Arthur's Pass respectively.
The Mohaka Viaduct is a railway viaduct spanning the Mohaka River in northern Hawke’s Bay, on the East Coast of the North Island of New Zealand, near the small settlement of Raupunga. It was built between 1930 and 1937 by the Public Works Department (PWD) for the New Zealand Railways Department (NZR). It is 276.8 metres (908 ft) in length, and at 95 metres (312 ft), is the tallest viaduct in Australasia.
The Tāneatua Branch is a 25-kilometre (16 mi) long branch railway line in the Bay of Plenty, New Zealand, running from Hawkens Junction, west of Edgecumbe, to Tāneatua.
The Rakaia Bridge is New Zealand's longest road bridge and crosses the Rakaia River, one of Canterbury's large braided rivers. The present bridge was opened in 1939 and replaced an earlier combined road and rail bridge from 1873. The present road bridge is just downstream from the rail bridge and forms part of State Highway 1.
The Whakatane Board Mills Line of 10 kilometres (6.2 mi) length was opened in 1937 as a freight-only tramway, and was sometimes referred to as a "private siding". The line closed in 2001.
Hokitika Gorge and the surrounding Hokitika Gorge Scenic Reserve are a major tourist destination some 33 kilometres (21 mi) or 40 minutes drive inland from Hokitika, New Zealand. Since August 2020, a second suspension bridge over the Hokitika River at the gorge provides the opportunity for a round track.
