Cambridge’s Victoria Bridge gets a fresh new look

The 116-year-old Victoria Bridge in Cambridge.

The paint is now dry on the historical Victoria Bridge in Cambridge.

After more than a year of maintenance work and fresh paint on the Waikato River bridge, the final touches were completed last week, the Waipā District Council said.

The final works included replacing two cross braces beneath the bridge and touching up the paint on the handrails above.

The council expected the repaint to last around 20 to 25 years and it would protect the steel from corrosive elements such as weather and pigeon poo.

Council service delivery group manager Dawn Inglis said they were absolutely thrilled with how the project had progressed.

“There were a number of tricky elements to this job, and the team have worked really hard with one of the biggest achievements being that, throughout the project we never closed the bridge.

“We fully anticipated that a bridge closure would be needed, but our team were able to use innovative ways to carry out the more difficult parts of the work without causing any disruption. It truly is a great result.”

The repainting of Cambridge's Victoria Bridge at the halfway point. Photo / Waipa District Council

“The team has applied more than 2000 litres of special corrosion-resistant paint, used in more than 7000 individual scaffolding components, including bars, bolts and planks, and it took 30 tonnes of grit-sand to blast off the old paint and rust. It’s been a mammoth effort”, she said.

Inglis said the only work remaining to be done on the bridge was the removal of scaffolding which would be taken down over the next month, and moved on to the next awaiting project by the contractor, by the middle of December.

The bridge was built and opened in 1907. It is 141m long and 35.4m high.

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