The $10m Tirohanga Whānui Bridge provides a pedestrian link between East Coast Bays and Albany on the North Shore. Photo / Dean Purcell
The $10m Tirohanga Whānui Bridge provides a pedestrian link between East Coast Bays and Albany on the North Shore. Photo / Dean Purcell
A new shared bridge for cyclists and pedestrians above the Northern Motorway — complete with a secret feature — opens in Albany today.
The Tirohanga Whānui Bridge — which means "Panoramic View" — provides a link for communities living in East Coast Bays and Albany. The bright red bridge isthe first milestone of the Northern Corridor Improvements project — a $700 million project aimed at delivering improved transport infrastructure for freight, cars, pedestrians and cyclists.
The $10m Tirohanga Whānui Bridge provides a pedestrian link between East Coast Bays and Albany on the North Shore. Photo / Dean Purcell
The bridge is unusual in that a main water pipe is installed directly underneath the bridge to help cater to the growing needs of people in the area.
The pipe would normally have run under the road — across the motorway — and would have created major disruption, a New Zealand Transport Agency spokesman said.
The $10m Tirohanga Whānui Bridge provides a pedestrian link between East Coast Bays and Albany on the North Shore. Photo / Dean Purcell
Engineers instead came up with the idea of running Watercare's pipe beneath a bridge that could be used by pedestrians and cyclists alike.
Tirohanga Whānui Bridge joins a number of fairly new motorway shared path bridges for pedestrians and cyclists around Auckland — including that seen in Mt Roskill, after the Waterview Tunnel, and another in Māngere.
