Fairfield Bridge
| Fairfield Bridge | |
|---|---|
| 200px | |
| Coordinates | Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found. |
| Carries | Motor vehicles, pedestrians |
| Crosses | Waikato River |
| Locale | Fairfield, Hamilton |
| Preceded by | Whitiora Bridge |
| Followed by | Pukete Bridge |
| Characteristics | |
| Design | Tied-arch |
| Material | Concrete |
| Total length | 139 metres (457 ft) |
| Number of spans | 3 |
| Piers in water | 2 |
| History | |
| Designer | Stanley Jones |
| Constructed by | Roose Shipping |
| Construction begin | 6 August 1934 |
| Opened | 26 April 1937 |
| Statistics | |
| Daily traffic | 20,000 |
Fairfield Bridge is a tied-arch bridge on the Waikato River in Fairfield, Hamilton, New Zealand. It is one of six bridges in the city.[1] It spans from River Road, on the east bank of the river, to Victoria Street, on the west side.[2]
It was registered as a Category I 'Historic Place' with the New Zealand Historic Places Trust on 30 August 1990.[3] The Great Race starts just north of the bridge, with the rowers passing under it during the race.[4]
Design and construction
The bridge is 139 metres (457 ft) long, and has two land spans,[5] and three arches which are 70 centimetres (28 in) wide, 40 metres (130 ft) long and 7.9 metres (26 ft) above the road at their highest point.[6][7] The arches and spans are made from reinforced concrete.[5] It was designed by Stanley Jones of Auckland, and Roose Shipping started construction in August 1934.[5] The bridge was opened in April 1937 by the Minister of Public Works Bob Semple.[5] It was the fourth large reinforced concrete tied-arch bridge in New Zealand, and the second over the Waikato River.[7]
When the building of a bridge in the Fairfield suburb was proposed, many people felt that it would seldom be used.[5] Sixty-five years later, in 2002, there were about 20,000 vehicles travelling across the bridge each day.[8]
During the building of foundations for the bridges, an excavator came across a burial cave in the bank of the river. The preserved heads of several Māori were found in it.[9] In 1991 a reconstruction project costing NZ$1.1 million took place, as the bridge was suffering the effects of concrete cancer,[5] discovered in 1980.[10]
During January 2011, the bridge was closed for three weeks for maintenance.[11]
Motorcycle stunt
In 2009 Jonathan Bennett of the Mormon Few Stunt Crew was charged, and in 2010 was convicted,[12] for dangerous driving for riding a motorcycle on the arches of Fairfield Bridge.[13][14] The stunt was filmed and subsequently posted on YouTube.[15]
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References
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