| Actual Image
Auckland Harbour Bridge (42)
Dawn
![Gold Star Critiquer/Gold Star Workshop Editor/Gold Note Writer [C: 1139 W: 100 N: 3357]](http://i1.treklens.com/misc/g-g-g.gif) (17508) | The Auckland Harbour Bridge was opened on 30th of May 1959 and it took over 200 workers around 4 years to build.
It was made with 6500 tonnes of concrete and nearly 6000 tonnes of steel.
When the bridge was first built it only had four lanes but after a few years they needed to make the bridge bigger to cope with all the traffic so they added two lanes to each side. The new lanes were called "clippons" because they were made in Japan, shipped to New Zealand on huge ships and then clipped into place with huge steel pins and rods.
The Auckland Harbour Bridge cost 16 million dollars to build over 40 years ago! The clippons were another 13.5 million dollars.
They decided to build a harbour bridge because the traffic wanting to go from Auckland City to the North Shore or vice versa was growing all the time and the trip round the harbour through West Auckland used to take hours.
Before the bridge was built vehicles and passengers also used ferries to get from one side to the other.
The span between the water and the bridge is about 15 stories high - high enough for most yachts to sail under but not high enough for many of the cruise ships, tankers and cargo ships that come into the Auckland Wharfs.
The Bridge is 1,021 meters long (nearly 10 RUGBY fields long!).
Today was a beautiful sunny winters day (sunday 19th June 05) and I was inspired by Puffy, KiwiRob, Coasties and Jancie to go out and photograph Auckland!....This was taken as the sun was going down...
Dawn. |
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