Kaitawa Bridge, several kilometres southeast of Pahiatua, is the only direct access point across the Tiraumea River to Kaitawa and its associated rural area. The structure was completed in 1932 and is a representative steel through truss road bridge with reinforced concrete deck and substructure.
European settlement in the Wairarapa was gradual, beginning in the 1850s from the south after lengthy negotiations between the Crown and iwi. However, it was not until the 1870s with the government public works and immigration schemes that Europeans started to earnestly occupy the north Wairarapa. In these later decades of the nineteenth century farming developed around Pahiatua, and one of these settlements was Kaitawa. However, it was not until the construction of a timber bridge to Kaitawa in the closing years of the nineteenth century that its dairying industry and population were able to flourish. By the early twentieth century the economic stability of the district was under threat, not only from the effects of the Great Depression, but the imminent failure of its bridge. Therefore, Kaitawa Bridge was one of the structures prioritised for replacement as part of the Pahiatua County Council’s comprehensive programme. However, the construction of the bridge had an initial setback when the main contractor was substituted because of financial trouble due to severe losses as a result of the 1931 Hawke’s Bay earthquake. Upon completion the bridge provided vital access for the community, but it was necessary to alter the structure somewhat in 1986 to achieve modern standard clearances and allow stock trucks to pass over it without damaging the structure.
Kaitawa Bridge is a bridge typical of its time in terms of its materials, although it is unusual among its contemporaries in the region and nationally because it is a steel through truss structure. This bridge is only wide enough for one-way traffic, and its tall central reinforced concrete ladder-shaped pier is flanked by two smaller ones close to the abutments. The only significant change to the structure occurred in 1986 when the portal bracings were removed and the loads formerly distributed by them were redirected through externally projecting equivalents, which form triangular forms on the sides of the bridge’s through truss.
Kaitawa Bridge has value as because its through truss design is not common and it is among a small group of remaining examples from its period and earlier. The fact that the structure has undergone few alterations is indicative that its representative design and materials are ideally suited to its circumstances, contributing to the significance of Kaitawa Bridge. The longevity of the structure and its integral importance to the everyday functioning and economy of the Kaitawa district since 1932 also mean that it has historical and social value locally. Kaitawa Bridge has further importance because of its association with the comprehensive bridge replacement programme of the local council from the late 1920s which persevered despite the financial effect of important events in New Zealand history, like the Great Depression and the 1931 Hawke’s Bay earthquake.
European settlement in the Wairarapa was gradual, beginning in the 1850s from the south after lengthy negotiations between the Crown and iwi. However, it was not until the 1870s with the government public works and immigration schemes that Europeans started to earnestly occupy the north Wairarapa. In these later decades of the nineteenth century farming developed around Pahiatua, and one of these settlements was Kaitawa. However, it was not until the construction of a timber bridge to Kaitawa in the closing years of the nineteenth century that its dairying industry and population were able to flourish. By the early twentieth century the economic stability of the district was under threat, not only from the effects of the Great Depression, but the imminent failure of its bridge. Therefore, Kaitawa Bridge was one of the structures prioritised for replacement as part of the Pahiatua County Council’s comprehensive programme. However, the construction of the bridge had an initial setback when the main contractor was substituted because of financial trouble due to severe losses as a result of the 1931 Hawke’s Bay earthquake. Upon completion the bridge provided vital access for the community, but it was necessary to alter the structure somewhat in 1986 to achieve modern standard clearances and allow stock trucks to pass over it without damaging the structure.
Kaitawa Bridge is a bridge typical of its time in terms of its materials, although it is unusual among its contemporaries in the region and nationally because it is a steel through truss structure. This bridge is only wide enough for one-way traffic, and its tall central reinforced concrete ladder-shaped pier is flanked by two smaller ones close to the abutments. The only significant change to the structure occurred in 1986 when the portal bracings were removed and the loads formerly distributed by them were redirected through externally projecting equivalents, which form triangular forms on the sides of the bridge’s through truss.
Kaitawa Bridge has value as because its through truss design is not common and it is among a small group of remaining examples from its period and earlier. The fact that the structure has undergone few alterations is indicative that its representative design and materials are ideally suited to its circumstances, contributing to the significance of Kaitawa Bridge. The longevity of the structure and its integral importance to the everyday functioning and economy of the Kaitawa district since 1932 also mean that it has historical and social value locally. Kaitawa Bridge has further importance because of its association with the comprehensive bridge replacement programme of the local council from the late 1920s which persevered despite the financial effect of important events in New Zealand history, like the Great Depression and the 1931 Hawke’s Bay earthquake.
