By Alex Stephens

Every week I go to New Plymouth for shopping and I have to go over the bridge at Waiwhakaiho which can be very slow because there is only one lane into the city and one lane out. I decided to see if more lanes could be added so it would be faster to get in and out of New Plymouth.

Hmmm. How would the council make the traffic flow faster over the Waiwhakaiho Bridge? Things I need to do. Get a photo of the bridge at the moment. Design my own bridge. Find out how they will solve the problems. Find out why there are problems with the bridge. Look on the council website to see if they are going to make improvements

This is the existing Waiwhakaiho Bridge in New Plymouth. At the moment the bridge is only two lanes. One going in and one going out of the city.

The issues During peak hours there are large queues which means road users are delayed getting to and from work, school and other activities. Traffic is held up at the bridge because there is only one lane in each direction, meaning delays, queues and safety issues for drivers. This creates issues for personal, business and freight travel because the bridge is a key part of the only route into New Plymouth from the north. Safety is also an issue for cyclists as there is no clear route for them to follow. Cyclists have to travel alongside or in-between busy traffic and, in some cases, vehicles have to drive around cyclists to give them a safe amount of space on the road.

I looked up the council website and found out that they are going to widen the bridge THIS YEAR! New Plymouth District Council

This is the upgrade Bridge What NZTA are proposing: To overcome these issues we are proposing the following improvements:  providing a second bridge with three lanes over the Waiwhakaiho River, with the inside lane specifically for right turns into Devon St East, meaning there will be five lanes of traffic across both bridges  providing two lanes in either direction to and from the city  stopping right hand turns from Devon St East onto SH3 to improve safety  installing on-road cycle lanes in both directions  providing off-road cycle access to and from Devon St East via a path under the bridge for cyclists crossing SH3  lowering the path under the existing bridge so there is a clearance height of 2.4 metres.

My Bridge Design

I wondered why the council decided on widening the existing bridge instead of putting in an overpass or another solution. I found out that they had got feedback from the public who preferred widening the bridge to four lanes. This also meant that NZTA wouldn’t have to come back a few years later and have to spend more money on it and disrupt the traffic again. This is a sensible solution and I think it is going to be a lot easier to get in and out of New Plymouth.

Bibliography NZ Transport Agency Google Maps , ,3a,75y,270h,90t/data=!3m4!1e1!3m2!1s04crtqVTfUJW3aMUFMU7jQ!2e0 New Plymouth District Council