Porters Bridge Installation

Work has started on the next stage of completing the new overbridge at Porters Avenue in Mt Eden after the bridge’s heavyweight span was successfully lifted into place above the Western Line/North Auckland Line (NAL) in late March.

The operation was one of the heaviest single lifts for City Rail Link (CRL). It took a team of 70, supported by three titanic cranes, four hours to manoeuvre a steel span 46-metres long and weighing 160-tonnes into position.

The span is the ‘foundation’ for a new overbridge that will give people safe access seven metres above railway lines. It took an 83-metre-long truck took six hours to crawl along city roads to deliver the hefty span from Ōtara to Mt Eden.

Dale Burtenshaw, NAL Construction Manager for CRL contractors Link Alliance said the lift was completed without a hitch.

“Months of careful planning and teamwork produced a great outcome for the project and for the people of Auckland,” Dale said.

Railings, stairs, lifts and push or rundle ramps are being installed on the span to give walkers, cyclists and those with prams, mobility scooters and wheelchairs easy and safe access over the rail corridor. The bridge will also carry public utility services across the line.

The bridge will have a very distinctive look. It will be shaped like a bow tie to minimise its overall size and to maximise sun and light to surrounding properties without compromising safety for bridge users. Designs on the bridge will reflect the historic and cultural importance to Māori, representing how volcanic basalt from nearby Maungawhau (Mt Eden) was used for gardening and building tools.

A completed Porters Avenue overbridge is planned to open in late 2022. Porters Avenue is the first of four permanent bridges to be built over the rail corridor at CRL’s Mt Eden site.