Saltwater Creek Bridge

CLIENT: NELSON CITY COUNCIL | STRUCTURAL ENGINEERING: STRUKTIVA LTD | COMPLETED: SEPTEMBER 2019

The Saltwater Creek Cycle Way Bridge is the key feature of a new city to sea cycle way connection between Nelson City and the water front. The bridge design is the product of a mini internal office design completion, where Nelson City Council requested three concepts for evaluation by council. The timber bridge design was selected as this best fulfilled NCC key requirements, including:

Cost effective
Low maintenance - It is in a marine environment
Light weight - The bridge supports a piled down to 8m
Sustainable – Fully timber
Responded to the cycleway and Maitai river walkway context with use of Garapa slats used elsewhere on the Maitai river walkway.
A low depth structure under the bridge due to minimum flood levels and required free board and cycle way grades.

The bridge is based on a traditional German Trog Brücke, or trough/ open bridge with glulam beams and cloaked in curved Garapa slats which reflect the idea of a waka/hull with the site being an early landing for local Iwi. Bridge details:

3m wide and clear spans 24m, with further land spans bringing the total length 30m.
H5 1390 x 260mm Radiata Glulam beams
90 x 45 Garapa side slats
H5 Radiata timber boarding to the deck

The entire structure was prefabricated and lifted on to the piled concrete support beams either side of the creek, avoiding any scaffolding and avoided any ecological impacts to the surrounding waterway and river bed.