General Information
| Completion: | 1880 |
|---|---|
| Status: | in use |
Project Type
| Structure: |
Single-span two-tower suspension bridge |
|---|---|
| Function / usage: |
Pedestrian bridge (footbridge) |
| Plan view: |
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| Material: |
Steel bridge |
| Material: |
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Location
| Location: |
Kawarau Gorge, Otago, New Zealand |
|---|---|
| Coordinates: | 45° 0' 31.94" S 168° 53' 59.23" E |
Technical Information
Dimensions
| span | 91.4 m | |
| height above valley floor or water | 42.7 m |
Materials
| pylons |
masonry
|
|---|---|
| deck truss |
steel
|
Excerpt from Wikipedia
The Kawarau Gorge Suspension Bridge is a bridge which runs over the Kawarau River in the Otago region in the South Island of New Zealand. The bridge is mainly used for commercial purposes by the AJ Hackett Bungy Company for the purposes of bungy jumping; the site was the world's first commercial bungy jumping site. The bridge also forms part of the Queenstown Trail which allows walkers/runners and bikers to pass over the river. The bridge is inside a Department of Conservation reserve.
Location
The bridge is between the start of the Crown Range Road and Gibbston within the Kawarau Gorge which is in the Wakatipu Basin. It is 43 metres (141 ft) above the Kawarau River.
History
The bridge was designed by Harry Higginson. The bridge was completed in late 1880, and formed a key access route to the Central Otago goldfields. It was replaced by a new highway bridge on State Highway 6 in 1963. It is classified by the New Zealand Historic Places Trust as a Category I historic place. The bridge is today a visitors attraction featuring commercialized zipline and bungee jumping.
Name
The bridge is known by a variety of names including; Kawarau Gorge Suspension Bridge, Kawarau Suspension Bridge, Kawarau bridge and Kawarau Bungy Bridge.
Text imported from Wikipedia article "Kawarau Gorge Suspension Bridge" and modified on July 23, 2019 according to the CC-BY-SA 4.0 International license.
Participants
- H. P. Higginson (designer)
Relevant Web Sites
Relevant Publications
- (2001): Bridging the Gap. Early Bridges in New Zealand 1830-1939. Reed Books, Auckland (New Zealand), pp. 184.
- (1882): The Kawarau Suspension Bridge, New Zealand. In: Minutes of the Proceedings of the Institution of Civil Engineers, v. 68, n. 1882-2 ( 1882), pp. 248-252.
- About this
data sheet - Structure-ID
20011106 - Published on:
30/12/2003 - Last updated on:
05/01/2022
