説明
Wind. Rain. Saltwater. It’s our job to stop Mother Nature taking her toll on the Auckland Harbour Bridge. Here’s how:
Next week the Harbour Bridge will be 67 years old. That’s a long time for the bridge to be exposed to the full force of the Waitematā Harbour’s marine environment.
Every day we have workers inspecting the bridge and doing preventative maintenance on it to manage potential issues such as corrosion. We do much of this work beneath the bridge – or at night if it’s up top, so that we avoid disrupting your travel.
If you’re travelling on the bridge while workers are doing maintenance up top, slow down, travel safely past the worksite, and follow any signage or instructions you get from roadworkers.
As the bridge ages, we need to balance ongoing maintenance with increasing traffic volumes – and, as you’ll know, during severe weather events we may need to reduce speeds or close lanes to protect the bridge from structural damage.
We don’t take closing the bridge when the weather is bad lightly – we all know how disruptive closures are – but a closure keeps everyone safe and protects the bridge for the long-term.
In 1961 only 16,000 vehicles crossed the bridge every day. Today it’s around 170,000 vehicles every day. Our ongoing maintenance, and our proactively safeguarding the bridge when the weather is bad, ensures the bridge will continue to serve us for years to come.