Rakaia Bridge

Story

The Rakaia Bridge is New Zealand's longest road bridge and crosses the Rakaia River, one of Canterbury's large braided rivers. The present bridge was opened in 1939 and replaced an earlier combined road and rail bridge from 1873. The present road bridge is just downstream from the rail bridge and forms part of State Highway 1.First bridgeThe Canterbury Provincial Council decided in April 1864 to commence building the railway from Christchurch to Timaru. An engineer was engaged to undertake the design for the bridge over the Rakaia River and to proceed with construction immediately. Construction of the railway commenced, but there were problems with funding and the Rakaia Bridge was not started. By the time the line reached Selwyn in October 1867, from central Christchurch and just across the Selwyn River, the provincial government was so short of finances that construction was temporarily halted. The provincial government called for tenders for a road bridge over the Rakaia River and awarded the contract on 17 October 1869 to William White, who had earlier built a bridge over the Waimakariri River. White was to construct a timber bridge with 96 spans of each. Much of the timber was cut in Little River and barged across Lake Forsyth and Lake Ellesmere / Te Waihora. Worked ceased in the following year when it was decided to make the bridge a combined one for both road and rail traffic. A second contract was tendered and again won by William White.