Bridges

The Peka Peka to Ōtaki (PP2O) Expressway is a 12km section of the new Kapiti Expressway, north of Wellington, New Zealand. The project includes nine road bridges, two underpasses, five pedestrian bridges and several large culverts.

Innovative seismic design approaches were adopted for the bridges in which sliding of the superstructure at the piers and abutments was allowed under ground shaking to give more economical designs and minimise damage at Ultimate Limit State (ULS).

The bridge design on the project included numerous features that contribute to sustainability.

Several efficiencies were achieved using Accelerated Bridge Construction (ABC) techniques. The team worked in collaboration to develop and implement the ABC initiatives.

Urban design in highway bridges involves creating infrastructure that is sensitive to its context, serves communities well, and has a unified architecture. The common architectural features consist of the precast-concrete barrier-facia panels, with artwork to reflect local cultural narratives, and exposed aggregate finishes to the abutment facing panels to enable the bridges to be a contextually relevant feature in the local community.

This paper describes the design for seismic resilience, sustainability, accelerated bridge construction and urban design for the bridges.