Whitiora Bridge

Whitiora Bridge
2012 view from riverside walkway
Carries	Motor vehicles
Crosses	Waikato River
Owner	Hamilton City Council
Preceded by	Claudelands Bridge
Followed by	Fairfield Bridge
Characteristics
Total length	260 metres (850 ft)
Height	28 metres (92 ft)
No. of spans	45, 53, 64, 53, 45 m
History
Constructed by	Rope Construction Ltd
Construction start	1975
Construction end	1978
Statistics
Daily traffic	21,400 (2011), 25,200 (2015)

Whitiora Bridge is a prestressed concrete box girder bridge in Hamilton, New Zealand, spanning the Waikato River. It cost $2.35m, or $3.4m including the approach roads, and was opened at the start of a weekend of Centennial celebrations, on 11 February 1978, by representatives of Māori, Government and City, Dame Te Atairangikaahu, Venn Young and Ross Jansen.

The 1969 Hamilton Transportation Study proposed the bridge, which was designed by Murray North Partners (who also designed Pukete sewer bridge and Rangiriri bridge) and built by Rope Construction Ltd (who also built Rakaia Bridge). It is on Taupo pumice alluvium and carries Boundary Rd at a 25 degree skew over the river and River Rd. At 260m, that makes it significantly longer than 133m Claudelands, or 139m Fairfield, but the alignment minimised tree damage and lined up with a new extension of Boundary Rd from Mill St/Ulster St. The east end of Boundary Rd was shown on the 1879 map of Claudelands, In 1915 there was a complaint about its lack of drainage and, in 1933, Jesmond Park was laid out at its river end, later crossed by the bridge.

The bridge rests on four 1.8m diameter octagonal piers, sunk 30m below the river, which are slightly narrower than the 5 spans of box girders. Sliding hinge joints in the landward spans give earthquake protection. Hydraulic shock transmission at the expansion joints will keep the sections of the bridge together in an earthquake.

Cycle Action Waikato complained in 2014, after the 2 traffic lanes, cycle tracks and footpath were converted to 3 traffic lanes and a footpath in 2006. The City's 1972 design brief, required up to 4 traffic lanes. The bridge carries about 200 cyclists a day and a clip-on cycle lane has been considered.