Opito Toll Bridge. Manawatu. New Zealand. - Orphaned Bridges on Waymarking.com

"New Zealand designer and builder Joseph Dawson of Pahiatua was hired to build the bridge for the Tane Hemp Company. He had studied the stresses and strains of concrete during a long life of experience in building, including 15 suspension bridges. Construction of the bridge began in March 1917.

The Tane Swing Bridge, as it was known in its early years, was 477 feet (154.39m) long. It was suspended between two reinforced concrete towers that were 48 feet (14.6m) high above ground, and set about 10 feet into the ground. The bridge was 11 feet wide with a 9 foot carriageway. The towers held 16 cables resting upon rollers that topped each tower. These cables were obtained from the Waihi gold mines and had been tested to hold a weight of about 50 tons. They were attached to long, bronzed-steel rods that were anchored into 25 cubic yards of concrete buried 17 feet into the ground.

The decking, which was held up by the 16 cables, was made up of 8 x 3 inch planks of black beech timber that had been milled from Akatarawa valley (near Upper Hutt). The decking could not be nailed down because the constant movement of the bridge would have lifted the nails, causing punctured tyres. All the iron work on the bridge was done on-site by the Tane mill blacksmith, Ernest Henderson. The bridge was completed in January 1918 at a cost of £2821."

Information obtained from www.livingheritage.org.nz from research by a St Peter's College student in Palmerston North who has created a website that contains a brief history of the Opiki suspension bridge, from the draining of the Makurerua Swamp, through the swamp's flax industry, the construction of the bridge, its conversion to a toll bridge, to the closing of the old toll bridge, and the opening of the new bridge at Opiki.

The Opiki Toll Bridge was the only toll bridge operating in New Zealand until 1959 when a toll was charged on the newly opened Auckland Harbour Bridge. It was also the longest suspension bridge in the country, measuring 477 feet (154.39m) between the two concrete towers.

Today it is only just hanging in there, struggling to hold itself together, an historic reminder of New Zealand's past. A plaque by the roadside tells the bridge's story and marks the end of an era.