Fairfield Bridge
New Zealand bridge
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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]
Fairfield Bridge | |
|---|---|
Fairfield Bridge from north west | |
| Coordinates | 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 | |
 Interactive map of Fairfield Bridge | |
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]
Design and construction
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]
Motorcycle stunt
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]
