For many of us, it’s been there as long as we can remember – but when it was opened in 1959, the Auckland Harbour Bridge was one of the most significant infrastructure projects New Zealand had ever undertaken. Soaring over the waters of Waitemata Harbour, it provided a much-needed link between the North Shore and Auckland City – with long-term benefits for residents, businesses and New Zealand as a whole.
Fifty years since its opening, Auckland Harbour Bridge is an icon of New Zealand’s landscape. The Auckland Harbour Bridge is an icon of New Zealand’s landscape. Replacing a 40-kilometre drive or a cross-harbour ferry ride, it’s been key to growth in the region – transforming North Shore’s seaside villages and rural communities into a thriving city, and opening Auckland City and points north and south to previously unimaginable opportunities for expansion and development.
A used copy of $2.00.
The Auckland Harbour Bridge is an eight-lane box truss motorway bridge over the Waitemata Harbour, joining Saint Mary's Bay in Auckland with Northcote in North Shore City. The bridge is part of State Highway 1 and is the second-longest road bridge in New Zealand. The main span is 43 meters above high tide to allow ships free access to the deepwater wharf at the Chelsea Sugar Refinery.
In the 1950s when bridge plans were finally realised, North Shore was still a very rural area with barely 50,000 people living there. Opening up the area unlocked the potential for further expansion of Auckland.
Based on the recommendations of the design team and the report of the 1946 Royal Commission, the bridge should have had five or six traffic lanes with the extra lanes intended to be reversed in direction in peak traffic, along with footpaths on both sides of the bridge. However, these features were dropped before construction started for cost reasons and the then government opted for a four-lane bridge without footpaths.The bridge took four years to build - with large steel girder sections partially pre-assembled and then floated into place on construction barges. One of the main spans was almost lost during stormy weather when the barge began to drift, but the steam engine tugboat William C Daldy eventually won a 36-hour tug-of-war against the high winds, consuming 40 tons of coal during the battle.
The bridge was completed three weeks ahead of schedule and was officially opened on the 30th of May 1959 by the Governor-General Lord Cobham. The 50 cent stamp shows an open day held in the week prior to the opening where 106,000 people walked the length of the bridge.
By 1965 the rapid expansion of suburbs on the North Shore had increased annual use to around 10 million vehicles - three times the original forecast level and work began on adding two-lane box girder sections to each side of the bridge. Completed in 1969, the sections were manufactured by Ishikawajima-Harima Heavy Industries of Japan and were nicknamed the 'Nippon clip-ons' - attributed to anti-Japanese sentiment 20 years after the end of the Second World War. Not surprisingly, the costs of the additions were considerably higher than had the bridge been designed and built with the extra lanes from the start.
First, let us view a couple of covers celebrating the opening of the bridge in 1959.
First Day Cover Opening Day - 2d 1955 Queen Elizabeth.
First Day Cover Opening Day - x2 2d 1959 Marlborough Cent.
2009 Auckland Harbour Bridge Issue.
New Zealand Post celebrated the 50th anniversary of this remarkable structure’s opening, with four gummed stamps, one self-adhesive stamp and a first-day cover.
50c - Auckland Harbour Bridge Pedestrian Open Day / May 1959.
On 30 May 1959, Governor-General Lord Cobham officially opened the box truss bridge after a week of celebrations that included a crossing by thousands of pedestrians before it was opened to vehicles. Retailers prepared for the event with ‘bridge specials’ and competitions, while parades, fashion shows and dances were held to welcome the new landmark.
$1.00 - Auckland Harbour Bridge at Dusk / Our Bridge 2009.
By the late 1960s, it was apparent that the Bridge would soon reach its capacity. To cope with the growth in traffic volumes, Japanese company IHI clipped two new lanes to each side of the bridge using the existing pier supports. The work was completed in 1969, with the only major maintenance required since being a girder strengthening project in 2006.
$1.50 - Auckland Harbour Bridge Original Girder Structure / Our Icon 1961.
From the day it opened until 1984, Auckland Harbour Bridge was a toll road, charging 25 cents per car with the aim of recovering the costs of construction. After one year of operation, 4.9 million vehicles had crossed the bridge, a figure that increased to 10.6 million in 1966 and reached more than 60 million in 2008. To help manage the traffic flow, the world’s first ‘moveable lane barrier’ was installed in 1990 – it’s now moved four times a day to create an extra lane at peak times.
$2.00 - Auckland Harbour Bridge Traffic at Night / Our Link 2009.
Today, the Auckland Harbour Bridge is an essential link between the North Shore and Auckland City – providing commuters, travellers and tourists with an easy, direct link to motorways stretching north and south. It’s also a visitor destination, with bridge climbing and bungy jumping experiences now on offer to those with an adventurous spirit. Care to try ‘the fastest way of getting to see Waitemata Harbour’ yourself?
50c - Auckland Harbour Bridge Pedestrian Open Day / May 1959 (Self Adhesive).
The 50 cent self-adhesive stamp was produced solely for the New Zealand Transport Association and was only available to the public through New Zealand Post Stamps and Collectables.
First Day Cover - 1 May 2009.
Technical information
Date of issue:
| 1 May 2009 |
|---|---|
Number of stamps:
| Four gummed stamps and one self-adhesive stamp |
Denominations
| 50c (gummed and self-adhesive), $1.00, $1.50, $2.00 |
Stamps and first-day cover designed by:
| Mata Limited, Auckland, with photography by Denis Wilford, Stephen Witherden and Tim Morris |
Printer and process:
| Southern Colour Print, New Zealand – by offset lithography |
Number of colours:
| Four process colours (self-adhesive tagged with red phosphor) |
Stamp size and format:
| 40mm x 30mm |
Paper type:
| Gummed: Tullis Russell 104gsm red phosphor gummed stamp paper; Self-adhesive: Avery Dennison B90 Kraft Back Adhesive 210gsm |
Number of stamps per sheet:
| 25 |
Perforation gauge:
| Gummed: 13.33; Self-adhesive: die cut |
Special blocks:
| Plate/imprint blocks could be obtained by purchasing at least six stamps from a sheet. Barcode blocks were available in both A and B formats. |
Period of sale:
| These stamps remained on sale until 30 April 2010. |
Some of the images in this post were used with permission from the illustrated catalogue of StampsNZ
You can visit their website and Online Catalogue at, http://stampsnz.com/
Information for this post came from.
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