Fairfield Bridge
Fairfield Bridge | |
|---|---|
 Fairfield Bridge from north west | |
| Coordinates | 37°46′19″S175°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 | |
 | |
Fairfield Bridgeis atied-arch bridgeon theWaikato RiverinFairfield,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 theNew Zealand Historic Places Truston 30 August 1990.[4]The Great Racestarts just north of the bridge, with the rowers passing under it during the race.[5]
There were days whendroverswould drive stock over the main Fairfield Bridge toFrankton saleyards.[6]
Design and construction
[edit]
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 fromreinforced concrete.[7]
It was designed by Stanley Jones ofAuckland,and Roose Shipping started construction in August 1934.[7]The bridge was opened in April 1937 by theMinister of Public WorksBob 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 theFairfieldsuburb was proposed, many people felt that it would seldom be used.[7]At that time it was just north of the city boundary, inWaikato 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, anexcavatorcame across a burial cave in the bank of the river. The preserved heads of severalMāoriwere found in it.[12]In 1991 a reconstruction project costingNZ$1.1 million took place, as the bridge was suffering the effects ofconcrete cancer,[7]discovered in 1980.[13]
During January 2011, the bridge was closed for three weeks for maintenance.[14]
Motorcycle stunt
[edit]In 2009 Jonathan Bennett of the Mormon Few Stunt Crew was charged, and in 2010 was convicted,[15]fordangerous drivingfor riding a motorcycle on the arches of Fairfield Bridge.[16][17]The stunt was filmed and subsequently posted onYouTube.[18]He was fined $500 and disqualified from riding for 6 months.[19]
References
[edit]- ^"Hamilton City Traffic Counts".data-waikatolass.opendata.arcgis.Retrieved15 December2023.
- ^"Hamilton's bridges".Hamilton City Council.Retrieved1 December2015.
- ^"Fairfield Bridge, Waikato".Google Maps.Retrieved11 June2010.
- ^"Fairfield Bridge".Heritage New Zealand.Retrieved7 June2010.
- ^Anderson, Ian (28 September 2009)."Waikato hold out Oxford".Waikato Times.Stuff.Archived fromthe originalon 5 June 2010.Retrieved8 June2010.
- ^Neville Grinter (December 1976).Hamilton and the Waikato.A. H. & A. W. Reed.ISBN9780589009717.
- ^abcdef"Fairfield Bridge".Hamilton City Libraries.Archived fromthe originalon 20 May 2010.Retrieved7 June2010.
- ^Neems, Jeff (5 September 2009)."Daredevil stunt rider takes the high road".Waikato Times.Stuff.Archived fromthe originalon 7 September 2009.Retrieved8 June2010.
- ^abHenshall, F. P. (10 April 1948). "The Fairfield Bridge, Hamilton".New Zealand Engineering.3(4): 387–389.ISSN0028-808X.
- ^ab"Parliamentary Papers | Appendix to the Journals of the House of Representatives | 1937 Session I PUBLIC WORKS STATEMENT (BY THE HON. R. SEMPLE, MINISTER OF PUBLIC WORKS".paperspast.natlib.govt.nz National Library of New Zealand.Retrieved16 June2017.
- ^"Water levels may affect Hamilton bridge".The New Zealand Herald.13 November 2002.Retrieved8 June2010.
- ^"Wintec – A History of the Land on Which Our City Campus Sits"(PDF).Waikato Institute of Technology.Archived fromthe original(PDF)on 23 July 2011.Retrieved9 June2010.
- ^Swarbrick, Nancy (26 May 2010)."Waikato places – Hamilton east of the river".Te Ara: The Encyclopedia of New Zealand.Retrieved10 June2010.
- ^"Road works and the impact on traffic".Hamilton City Council. Archived fromthe originalon 24 November 2010.Retrieved19 January2011.
- ^Leaman, Aaron (3 April 2010)."Bike stunt a bridge too far".Waikato Times.Stuff.Archived fromthe originalon 6 April 2010.Retrieved8 June2010.
- ^"Stunt rider charged over driving".The New Zealand Herald.29 September 2009.Retrieved8 June2010.
- ^Brennan, Nicola (13 February 2010)."Judge shocked at biker's bridge stunt".Waikato Times.Stuff.Archived fromthe originalon 16 February 2010.Retrieved8 June2010.
- ^"The stunt that landed a prankster in court".Close Up.Television New Zealand.1 April 2010. Archived fromthe originalon 4 April 2010.Retrieved8 June2010.
- ^"Skateboarder's risky Fairfield Bridge stunt fails".Stuff.28 February 2018.Retrieved17 March2021.
External links
[edit]- Photos of construction[1][2]and[3]Archived5 February 2017 at theWayback Machine
- 1941 photo showing cattle and houses