| Bridge Name: | Te Ara Pekapeka Bridge |
| Carries: | Motor vehicles, bicycles, pedestrians |
| Crosses: | Waikato River |
| Owner: | Hamilton City Council |
| Designer: | Bloxam Burnett & Olliver |
| Builder: | HEB Construction |
| Begin: | 2020 |
| Open: | 30 August 2024 |
| Preceded: | Narrows Bridge |
| Followed: | Cobham Bridge |
| Coordinates: | -37.8046°N 175.3126°W |
Te Ara Pekapeka Bridge (Māori for pathway of the bat) is a girder bridge over the Waikato River in Hamilton, New Zealand, opened to pedestrians and cyclists on Friday 30 August 2024 and known as Peacocke Bridge during construction.[1] The bridge on Wairere Drive is part of the Southern Links, a ring road around Hamilton. It links Hamilton East with a new suburb of Peacocke. Construction started in 2020, though the plan originated in 1962.[2]
The bridge is formed with 2,650 tonnes of steel,[3] was expected to be completed by mid 2024,[4] at a cost of $160.2M,[5] though budgeted at $135M in 2020, estimated at no more than $60M in 2017[6] and formerly at $40M. The bridge was delayed by COVID-19 and Cyclone Gabrielle and other storms.[7] The 4-lane bridge was designed by Bloxam Burnett & Olliver, and built by HEB Construction.[8] It includes bus lanes and cycle paths, and carries the Peacocke to Pukete sewer line.[9] The river was closed to boats during construction.[10]
Both banks of the river were stabilised to support the bridge. The north bank, next to the bridge abutments, has a 50-degree slope, rising,[11] or, and was stabilised with 150mm soil nails.[12] The total length of the bridge is,[13] including the 11adj=midNaNadj=mid mechanically stabilised earth wall of the southern bridge abutment, which is on compressible, loose Taupō Pumice alluvial soils, of the river terraces. The bridge itself is long (made up of a 70m (230feet) northern span, 50m (160feet) central span and a 60m (200feet) southern span), wide, on 38adj=midNaNadj=mid, closely spaced, bridge piles, with 35adj=midNaNadj=mid earth anchors and over 600 8m (26feet) soil nails. The bridge is over above the normal river level.
The main support is a pier on the south bank of the river,[14] formed of weathering steel, in two lattice-shaped, 30x Y sections, each weighing over 200 tonnes. The lattice is made up of 2.2x box-section welded plates. They were lifted into position by a 600-tonne crane.[15]
The bridge was designed to minimise its impact on 54 rest sites of the critically endangered long-tailed bat (pekapeka-touroa), including 30 new roost boxes on trees, with metal bands above and below them to keep predators out, use of warm LED lighting, a shallow bridge profile and removal of vegetation below the bridge so they can fly under, creation of a tree canopy to keep them away from traffic and predator control to protect, bats, copper skinks, native birds and the new trees.[16]
The bridge was opened by Paula Southgate and Simeon Brown, though the plaque on the bridge also records the name of Kīngi Tūheitia, who died on the morning of the bridge opening.
Installation of a 71m (233feet) curved pedestrian/cycleway bridge weighing over 200 tonnes, made up of five weathered-steel sections,[17] north of Peacocke Bridge, was started in 2022. The bridge crosses the extension of Wairere Drive, to maintain the Te Awa link to Hamilton Gardens. Māori design is reflected in the bridge, with two 25m (82feet) steel masts, representing a waharoa (gateway), and influenced by a taurapa (carved waka sternpost). The motif is a takarangi (intersecting spiral), as seen on sternposts, denoting a threshold.[18]