Transit Regional Office
Auckland
14 January 2005

Media Release

New Upper Harbour Bridge begins to take shape

Construction of the duplicate State Highway 18 bridge across the upper harbour - joining Greenhithe and Hobsonville - has moved an important step forward with the completion of the first of seven spans that will make up the 458m balanced cantilever structure.

The milestone was reached recently when the first concrete 'closure pour' successfully joined the two cantilevers making up the 73m-bridge span on which the road surface will eventually be placed. "The fact that the two ends were aligned confirmed to us that that the stringent quality requirements demanded by the design of the duplicate bridge were achieved," says Transit regional manager (acting), Richard Hancy.

Work is now continuing on the remaining six bridge spans. Mr Hancy explains that each concrete 'pour' has to be performed at night to minimise differential thermal expansion caused during the day by the heat of the sun on top of the bridge and the cooling effect of the water underneath.

The $30m project, which also involves the widening of the causeway on the western side of the bridge, is on schedule for completion in mid 2006 says Mr Hancy.

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