English: The original Awatere bridge was designed by Peter Seton Hay of the Public Works Department and completed in 1902 for about $50,000 by the Christchurch company Scott Brothers, with the railway running over the top deck and the road underneath. At 325 metres, it was the longest of its kind in the country at the time.

Traffic over the road level has for years been controlled by give-way signs and, latterly, traffic lights. As well as the delays, the narrow single lane has been a nightmare for truck-drivers trying to manoeuvre B-trains onto and off it without losing paint. Occasionally trucks got jammed, blocking the main road between Blenheim and Christchurch for hours.

The residents of the small farming town of Seddon, a couple of kilometres to the south, had been agitating for years for the old bridge’s replacement, and Transit New Zealand was finally able to give the go-ahead a little over two years ago.

The project makes the budgeted $15.2 million seem to go a long way because it actually involves two new bridges: The 274 metre-long by 10 metre-wide road bridge across the Awatere River, and a new rail overbridge on the southern approaches to the old bridge. Also included in the budget were an upgrade of the Awatere Valley/Redwood Pass Road intersection and the installation of a passing line on the northern side of the road bridge, plus the realignment, including another passing lane, of the road leading under the overbridge and into Seddon on the south side. The work involves the reconstruction of three kilometres of highway.

[Source: www.contrafedpublishing.co.nz/Contractor/New+bridge+over+...]