BEACH ROAD BRIDGE
General Information
BEACH ROAD BRIDGE: This solid bridge over Aylmer Stream, right where it enters the sea, still meets the needs of local traffic 120 years after it was built.
Category: Structures and Sites Date: 1886
Street Address: Beach Road HPT registered? Yes District Plan Listed? Yes
Historical Significance
When the newly formed Akaroa Borough Council set about improving the town’s roads in the late 1870s and 1880s, it built several bridges over local streams. They were all arched bridges, but differed in appearance. The Beach Road bridge has solid sides of brick plastered over with a cement render. It was opened in 1886, when A.J. McGregor was Mayor of Akaroa.
It was restored in 2001 on the initiative of the Akaroa Civic Trust, with funding from the Parkinson Trust and the Banks Peninsula District Council. Remarkably, the narrow bridge is still adequate for traffic needs, though motor cars have long since replaced the horse-drawn vehicles of the century in which the bridge was built.
It was restored in 2001 on the initiative of the Akaroa Civic Trust, with funding from the Parkinson Trust and the Banks Peninsula District Council. Remarkably, the narrow bridge is still adequate for traffic needs, though motor cars have long since replaced the horse-drawn vehicles of the century in which the bridge was built.
Map & Address
Address
Beach Road, Akaroa, Banks Peninsula Community, Christchurch City, Canterbury, 7520, New Zealand
Beach Road, Akaroa, Banks Peninsula Community, Christchurch City, Canterbury, 7520, New Zealand