Fairfield Bridge | |
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![]() Fairfield Bridge from north west | |
Coordinates | 37°46′19″S 175°16′12″E / 37.772°S 175.270°E |
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) |
No. of spans | 3 |
Piers in water | 2 |
History | |
Designer | Stanley Jones |
Constructed by | Roose Shipping |
Construction start | 6 August 1934 |
Opened | 26 April 1937 |
Statistics | |
Daily traffic | 2002 19,052 2005 18,550 2010 19,100 2015 18,900 2020 17,700 2021 16,900 2022 17,300 [1] |
Location | |
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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. [2] It spans from River Road, on the east bank of the river, to Victoria Street, on the west side. [3]
It was registered as a Category I 'Historic Place' with the New Zealand Historic Places Trust on 30 August 1990. [4] The Great Race starts just north of the bridge, with the rowers passing under it during the race. [5]
There were days when drovers would drive stock over the main Fairfield Bridge to Frankton saleyards. [6]
The bridge is 139 metres (457 ft) long, and has two land spans, [7] 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. [8] [9] The road is 20 ft (6.1 m) wide, and the footpaths 5 ft (1.5 m). [10] The arches and spans are made from reinforced concrete. [7]
It was designed by Stanley Jones of Auckland, and Roose Shipping started construction in August 1934. [7] The bridge was opened in April 1937 by the Minister of Public Works Bob Semple. [7] It was the fourth largest reinforced concrete tied-arch bridge in New Zealand, and the second over the Waikato River. [9]
When the building of a bridge in the Fairfield suburb was proposed, many people felt that it would seldom be used. [7] At that time it was just north of the city boundary, in Waikato County. [10] Sixty-five years later, in 2002, there were about 20,000 vehicles travelling across the bridge each day. [11]
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. [12] In 1991 a reconstruction project costing NZ$1.1 million took place, as the bridge was suffering the effects of concrete cancer, [7] discovered in 1980. [13]
During January 2011, the bridge was closed for three weeks for maintenance. [14]
In 2009 Jonathan Bennett of the Mormon Few Stunt Crew was charged, and in 2010 was convicted, [15] for dangerous driving for riding a motorcycle on the arches of Fairfield Bridge. [16] [17] The stunt was filmed and subsequently posted on YouTube. [18] He was fined $500 and disqualified from riding for 6 months. [19]