Auckland Harbour Bridge marks its 60th birthday by going back to the future

Thursday, 30 May 2019

A look back at the history of the Auckland Harbour Bridge as it celebrates its 60th anniversary. (First published in May 2019)

The Harbour Bridge is marking its 60th birthday with a signal of one of the biggest changes in its often tumultuous life.

The announcement, a week before the milestone, that a walking and cycling clip-on could begin construction in 2020 is less of a new beginning for the bridge, than a reminder of what it might have been from day one.

The original plan for the bridge was for it to have five traffic lanes, as well as a footpath and cycleway.

But cost-cutting meant it was just four lanes – and no extras – when it opened with great fanfare on May 30, 1959.

* Auckland Harbour Bridge a symbol of small thinking we can't repeat**

* **Across the decades: The harbour bridge turns 50

* No bridge walk to mark 50th**

The bridge across the Waitematā Harbour transformed Auckland from that day, but not always in a good way.

George Wood was a 12-year-old when he joined 106,000 others to walk on the bridge in a public celebration before it opened to traffic.

'I don't think we went right over, we went to the top and turned around and came back down from the Northcote side,' Wood said.

'The excitement really came once it opened and you could get on a bus in Birkenhead and go straight into 'town' as we called it.'

Graham Bush walked up from the city side as a 25-year-old, with his mother.

'It was one of my first interests in transport in Auckland,' he said.

He later became an associate professor in political studies and wrote books on history and transport in Auckland.

The idea of a bridge linking downtown Auckland with the communities and market gardens on the North Shore had been wrestled with by three special commissions since 1929.

It was 1953 before then-Prime Minister Sidney Holland approved funding for a bridge.

The funding cap meant 'nice-to-haves' such as pedestrian and cycle access were axed, along with the fifth lane which could have accommodated peak traffic in either direction.

The Auckland Harbour Bridge Authority was formed to own and run the structure and collect tolls to recover the construction cost.

The traffic forecasts for the pared-down design were woefully light, and after just 10 years, additions were completed to double the bridge to eight lanes.

The British-designed structures featured a cutting edge box girder construction.

An image of the proposed Auckland Harbour Bridge cycle and walkway which may begin construction in 2020.

'The advent of the Harbour Bridge made it easier for people in cars – I don't know if it was as good for people using public transport,' said Wood, who went on to become the mayor of North Shore City and an Auckland councillor until 2016.

Legislation ended most of the passenger and car ferries which had made the short journey across the harbour, to ensure good toll income.

'There was a pretty good transport system in those days with buses to the wharves dropping people off, it was fairly efficient,' Wood said.

'My grandfather lived in Grey Lynn – mum and I would go over there and it was a pretty seamless trip on the bus to Birkenhead Wharf, catch the ferry, get on a tram at [the] bottom of Queen St and trundle out to Grey Lynn.

'Unfortunately the public transport system degenerated, and the bridge didn't make it so easy.

The proposed 'Auckland Harbour Bridge Shared Path' will provide a five-metre-wide cycle path and walkway.

'We're still trying to recreate what we did have previously.'

Bush, who wrote the history of transport in Auckland, listed the bridge's 1959 layout as one of the '10 greatest mistakes in Auckland history.'

'It had rail, then light rail (trams) in early iterations, but was cut back in an austerity age – the money involved was ludicrously small by today's standards,' he said.

'They agreed only to the bare minimum, it had to have two lanes each way in case there was a breakdown.'

A 2009 private proposal for a replacement bridge carrying rail, vehicles and pedestrians, to mark the 2015 Anzac Day centenary.

The new bridge opened up the North Shore to rapid expansion thanks to the easier road access.

George Wood's father worked for the then-Birkenhead Borough Council.

'For about 10 years or more, the council was very successful in getting a huge number of subdivisions under way and finished,' Wood said.

'All the horticulture, the orchardists and market gardens went – sold up and cashed in on the big changes and moved to other places.'

Advocates for walking and cycling over the bridge broke police lines to make their point on the 50th anniversary in 2009.

In his memoir, former Commissioner of Works Bob Norman wrote of a potentially catastrophic find on the box girder clip-ons.

In 1970, two years into construction, Melbourne's West Gate Bridge collapsed, killing 35 workers.

It was designed by the same British firm, using the same new box girder technique as the Harbour Bridge's clip-ons.

Former North Shore City mayor George Wood walked the bridge as a 12-year-old ahead of its opening in 1959.

Norman wrote a senior partner from the firm visited Auckland to inspect the clip-ons and found a buckle in a cross-member.

'The bridge was quietly and successfully strengthened at minimal cost,' he wrote, after the Ministry of Works called in a new firm to solve the problem.

Tolling ended in 1984, just a year before cracking and new structural flaws were found in the 'clip-ons'.

That sparked major strengthening work over the next two years, and the diverting of heavy trucks into the centre span lanes.

The bridge's golden jubilee in 2009 became a turning point in its history, sparked by the New Zealand Transport Agency's decision not to allow celebratory walking and cycling over part of it.

'The NZTA's decision was taken reluctantly and one of the main reasons behind it was the sheer number who would want to take part – a survey indicated up to 300,000 people – and our ability to safely manage them and the widespread disruption that would occur on roads through Auckland,' Wayne McDonald, the regional director at the time, said.

Growing interest in walking and cycling led to a protest the weekend before the 50th anniversary, in which an estimated 5000 defied barriers and police opposition and walked up one side of the bridge and back.

The action was the genesis of the Skypath initiative, which for nearly a decade drove plans for a walking and cycling structure to be added to the bridge's eastern span.

Skypath's design was privately funded but eventually backed by Auckland Council. It was taken over by NZTA, which released the final revised design in May 2019.

After beginning life focussed on vehicle use, the bridge in rush hour has become a major piece of public transport infrastructure, linking to the dedicated busway on the North Shore.

Between 6am and 8am, more than 9000 people travel over the bridge on 223 buses - nearly three times the number of people in 2630 cars.

It is likely to remain the only link between the CBD and North Shore for another two decades.

The long-debated additional harbour crossing, probably a tunnel perhaps dedicated to mass transit, is not planned to begin before the end of the 2030s.

The council's urban design champion Ludo-Campbell Reid favoured a tunnel carrying rail and buses to complement the bridge.

However, if a new bridge was built alongside the old, he fancied something spectacular: 'A Living Bridge – one that includes apartments, parks or open spaces,' the former Londoner said.

The bridge will mark its birthday by staging a special light show from 6pm-10pm through until Monday evening.