New Mangere Bridge Sections Get Joined Tonight

in General by Jon C — December 9, 2009 at 6:00 pm | 3 comments

Tonight, a leap forward in the construction of  the 650-metre duplicate Mangere Bridge over the Manukau Harbour, which is the largest bridge being built.

The first completed sections of the bridge’s deck are being joined.

Tonight, 30 cubic metres of concrete will be pumped 20 metres skyward to create the join. The result will be 200 metres of joined up deck, on which the Manukau Harbour Crossing project can begin installing barriers for the new motorway lanes across the  harbour.

Then this Friday, two massive cranes will work in unison to lift 245 tonnes of land span into position at the northern end of the bridge.

This is one of the largest crane lifts ever attempted in NZ.

The $230 million Manukau Harbour Crossing project is doubling motorway capacity on the Southwestern motorway, State Highway 20, between Onehunga and Mangere.

Construction of the bridge, which began in early 2008, is now 70% complete. It’s scheduled to finish early next year but is ahead of schedule.

This is a key section of the planned Western Ring Route, which will provide an alternative to State Highway One through Auckland.

In the project, the new bridge will carry 4 traffic lanes and a shoulder lane for bus priority in the southbound direction, and the existing bridge will carry 4 traffic lanes and a shoulder lane for bus priority in the northbound direction.

Pedestrian and cycleway routes will be upgraded from both ends of the old Mangere Bridge and this section of the motorway will be widened to 3 lanes and a bus shoulder lane in each direction.

Tags: Mangere Motorways NZTA