Pukete Bridge is a concrete box girder bridge

Box girder bridge

A box girder bridge is a bridge in which the main beams comprise girders in the shape of a hollow box. The box girder normally comprises either prestressed concrete, structural steel, or a composite of steel and reinforced concrete. The box is typically rectangular or trapezoidal in cross-section...

 in Hamilton

Hamilton, New Zealand

Hamilton is the centre of New Zealand's fourth largest urban area, and Hamilton City is the country's fourth largest territorial authority. Hamilton is in the Waikato Region of the North Island, approximately south of Auckland...

, New Zealand

New Zealand

New Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses and numerous smaller islands. The country is situated some east of Australia across the Tasman Sea, and roughly south of the Pacific island nations of New Caledonia, Fiji, and Tonga...

, spanning the Waikato River

Waikato River

The Waikato River is the longest river in New Zealand. In the North Island, it runs for 425 kilometres from the eastern slopes of Mount Ruapehu, joining the Tongariro River system and emptying into Lake Taupo, New Zealand's largest lake. It drains Taupo at the lake's northeastern edge, creates the...

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In February 2011 an upgrade will begin to expand the number of lanes to four. It is expected to be completed by late 2013. During the early part of 2011 thousands of tonnes of earth were removed by truck and taken 3 km to build up 2 large earth ramps as part of the SHWY 1 by pass at Horotiu. As the original road had been built largely in a gully ,this included the removal of trees and other vegetation planted on the gully sides to block traffic noise.
The existing cycle lane will be incorporated in the new roadway and a new cycle and pedestrian clipon added on the southern side of the bridge.