The competition judges said the project combined an iconic design with technical excellence and innovative architecture to create a wonderful asset for the local community. The design, by Whitaker Civil Engineering, was chosen through a competition staged by the New Plymouth District Council in 2007 which asked entrants to create a bridge which was ‘simultaneously utilitarian and beautiful’ on a site which was significant both culturally and environmentally.

“The team has designed and built this internationally acclaimed asset for the district, which has well and truly achieved the council’s objectives. It is inspirational and has been embraced by the local community,” the judges said.

But that’s not all. The bridge has also won four other awards for its innovative design and construction. At the recent International Bridge Conference®: Bridge Awards held in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, the bridge took out the Arthur G. Hayden Medal, awarded to recognise a single recent outstanding achievement in bridge engineering demonstrating innovation in special use bridges. At the Ingenium Excellence Awards, held in Wellington in June, the Te Rewa Rewa bridge won the award category for projects $2 million to $10m. Ingenium is the brand name for the Association of Local Government Engineering NZ Inc.

Judges said the bridge, with its 19 sweeping rib structures, met the challenge of creating functionality through pedestrian and cycle access as well as making an iconic structure.  ”The project team also had to deal with an environmentally and culturally significant site for local iwi which led to an innovative access agreement,” judges said.

Then in July the bridge was named the best little bridge in the world at the International Footbridge Awards in Poland, winning the 2011 International Footbridge Award in the aesthetics category (medium span). And to top it off, it won the Taranaki Master Builders supreme award for a commercial facility. The 68.8m bridge is designed to accommodate an ambulance and other service vehicles.

It is made of three steel tubes; two beneath the deck and the remaining one, together with 19 ribs, forming a distinctive arch. 85 tonnes of fabrication steel, 62 tonnes of reinforcing steel and 550 m3 of concrete have been used for its construction. The bridge deck has been placed at 4.5m above normal flow level to withstand both floods and lahars from volcanic eruptions.

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