News & Media Releases

Vivian Street bridge to open this week

14 December 2005

Transit New Zealand will open the new Vivian Street bridge this Saturday 17 December for motorist and pedestrian use, as part of the Inner City Bypass project. This will be the first structure of the project to be opened for public use.

Once opened, pedestrians will be able to see the continuing work on the trench structure from the bridge. It is expected that pedestrians will able to use the bridge from Friday 16 December.

Transit New Zealand project manager Jonnette Adams said the new bridge will allow traffic to be taken off the short-term diversion, created earlier on in the project, which currently runs between Willis Street and Buller Street.

"This means that we can continue with the excavation of the trench to complete the alignment of the new bypass route," she said.

The bridge is constructed of eight 14m concrete beams which were all pre-cast and delivered to the trench site one at a time.

"As each beam arrived it was off-loaded, swung directly into position by two cranes working in tandem and fixed onto the concrete abutments," said Ms Adams.

Once the bypass is opened, the Vivian Street bridge will be primarily for pedestrian and cycle access but will service vehicles that require access to a carpark being constructed on the Willis Street side of the bridge.

Note to Editors: Should you require photos of the new bridge, there is an opportunity on Friday 16 December when the bridge will be officially opened for pedestrians only. Please contact us to arrange a time.

For further information please contact:

Jonnette Adams
Project Manager
Transit New Zealand
DDI: 04 801 2598

Rebecca Collerton
Communications Advisor
Transit New Zealand
DDI: 04 801 2521

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