Kāeo’s new $40 million bridge wins infrastructure award

The $40 million Kāeo Bridge, which opened in February, has won an Āpōpō Asset Management Excellence infrastructure award.

It took almost three years and $40 million to build. Now the Kāeo Bridge has won an infrastructure award for being an outstanding community asset.

The Kāeo Bridge opened in February, replacing an old one-way bridge that had long been a summer chokepoint on State Highway 10 between the Bay of Islands and Doubtless Bay. It was also too narrow for some loads.

Last month the bridge project won the community category in the Āpōpō Asset Management Excellence Awards for Fulton Hogan, WSP, NZTA Waka Kotahi, and Aurecon.

Local schools have been involved in growing trees for landscaping and helping to plant them on site around the bridge.

The award judges said the quality of life, wellbeing, and prosperity needs of communities are the centrepiece of infrastructure asset management.

Whether the community is a remote rural area or a metropolitan complex, the infrastructure assets that enable the essentials of life and connection underpin the wealth, health, and vitality of the people served.

Throughout submissions, entrants in this category seek to demonstrate to the judging panel how their project or initiative brings change for a community in the context of infrastructure asset management excellence.

“Northland’s Kāeo Bridge upgrade has delivered an overdue asset to a community in need. With community at its heart, this bridge will enhance safety, the local economy, growth, and prosperity. Along the way, project teams have brought community members with them, presenting unique opportunities to connect with the project, and generating a legacy that stretches far beyond the asset itself,“ the judges said.

“Kaitiaki, tamariki and the community have been central to Northland’s Kāeo Bridge upgrade, a project that will improve connectivity for this community and allow it to prosper. These groups have been engaged from the outset, before any shovel ever broke ground, to preserve the ecosystems around the construction site and create a community and environmental legacy that will last for generations.“

In replacing the single lane bridge just north of the Kāeo township, the project addresses safety concerns and mitigates impacts of the throttle point for Northland’s Te Hiku ward economy. The project scope includes a new two-lane bridge and a roundabout at the intersection of SH10 and Whangaroa Road.

The $40m project was undertaken by Fulton Hogan, Waka Kotahi, WSP and Aurecon, with works beginning in November 2021. The project’s cornerstone, the new two-lane bridge, officially opened to traffic on February 24 – two months ahead of schedule.

The new bridge is twice as long and wide as the old bridge, and also significantly higher to protect Kāeo from flooding.

The bridge is located on the Twin Coast Discovery route, Northland’s main tourist route, and provides access to visitor destinations such as Doubtless Bay, Karikari Peninsula and Cape Reinga.

NZ Transport Agency Waka Kotahi said that by making it safer and easier to move through the intersection and over the bridge, the project will improve the experience of visitors, freight traffic, and other road users travelling the Twin Coast Discovery route.

The area around the bridge is low-lying and extreme weather events cause frequent flooding in and around Kāeo.