Hamilton’s built a bridge… and you can get over it very soon

Wednesday, 14 August 2024

Hamilton's new Peacocke Bridge is about to open to the public.

In less than 20 days the anticipation will be over and Hamiltonians will get to set foot on an impressive piece of the city’s latest infrastructure, the bridge to Peacocke.

A key factor in unlocking a new subdivision for the city, it should see the first commuter tyres hit the asphalt in early September.

Spanning west to east across the Waikato River the Waikato Times got a sneak peek on Tuesday morning at Hamilton’s first new bridge in 28-years as the final bits and bobs were put in place.

While framed by the pedestrian bridge on the Cobham Dr side, the Peacocke side comes with newly constructed roads and roundabouts, where there was once farmland and lifestyle blocks.

Bench seats and wide footpaths sit ready waiting to be used as the countdown for the orange cones and construction barriers are cleared.

One motorist managed to sneak through the barriers just before lunch, asking if she could drive across the bridge to join up with Wairere Dr.

Not yet, was the answer, as she was turned around. But it won’t be long.

Hamiltonians will be able to walk, scoot or cycle across the yet-to-be-named bridge on August 31.

Hamilton City Council’s Infrastructure and Assets general manager Andrew Parsons said it’s a unique experience to have been part of the project.

“You don't see many bridges being built in Hamilton. If you look back at history, there's typically a new bridge sort of roughly every 30 years. I was around when the Pukete bridge was constructed and opened and to see this one right from the very beginning (is exciting).”

Parsons said it’s been a long run, from when the contract was awarded to HEB in August 2020.

The project had its challenges when not long after construction started the worldwide impact of Covid-19 began.

“It was really challenging and largely unexpected. The border restrictions, the regional lockdowns were challenging, particularly the Auckland one because workers couldn't travel through the Auckland region to get to the site.”

He said a contract signed with central Government in June 2018 set time frames of deliverables.

“Nobody could have foreseen Covid at that time. And yet we've still delivered within the provisions of that agreement.”

However, the cost of living applies even to bridges.

The bridge has been future proofed with four vehicle lanes along with pedestrian and cycling lanes both sides of the bridge.

The budget of $135 million has been surpassed, with the council approving increases to the contract of $26.6 million - $2.1 million for costs associated with Covid-19 and $24.5 million for inflation, making for a total of$166.6 million.

The funding came through the Government's Housing Infrastructure Fund, made up of a $180.3 million 10-year interest-free loan and $110.1 million of New Zealand Transport Agency subsidies.

Parsons admits there was a time when it may not have happened.

“Back in 2016 when we pulled together the very first funding bid, we didn't think the draft would be selected. The council actually compiled three bids at the time: one was for Peacocke, one was for Rotokauri and one was for Peacocke and Rotokauri combined.”

It turned out to be the Peacocke-only proposal that got tick of approval from the Government.

The bridge has been future-proofed by having four traffic lanes right at the outset.

“Two of them are for vehicles, but two of them are for high occupancy vehicles.”

Hamilton is the third city to have T2 lanes behind Auckland and Christchurch.

The bridge back in April before the road markings were completed.

“The cycle and walking provisions are much wider than you normally see and unusual for Hamilton bridges. They are on both sides of the bridge as well. And then with the pedestrian cycle overbridge, it sort of stitches all together and connects it back into the Te Awa cycle network.”

Hamilton mayor Paula Southgate said the bridge is a combination of years of hard work and dedication from a lot of people.

“What’s most special is this is the new part of Hamilton that we're standing in now. It's going to become home to 20,000 new Hamiltonians in time.

“What was once grass paddocks is going to become valuable family homes, schools, playgrounds, green space, cycleways, which will be phenomenal.”

Southgate said most importantly it’s going to help deal with providing affordable homes.

“It's simple enough, effective and so harmonious with the environment around it…This is a beautiful entrance way to what is going to be one of the nice parts of Hamilton quite soon.”

Between 10am-2pm on August 31 the public will get their opportunity to look to walk the new bridge.

The bridge will be formally blessed and gifted a name by mana whenua in late-August before opening to traffic soon after the public event.

An exact time and date will not be announced to manage traffic on the wider network .