Anniversary Must Be Marked With New ANZAC Bridge

ANZAC Centenary Bridge Group

Media Statement

23 April 2010
For Immediate Release

Anniversary Must Be Marked With New ANZAC Bridge

The ANZAC Centenary Bridge Group is calling for the ANZAC Day Centenary in 2015 to be commemorated by starting construction on a new Auckland harbour bridge, and insists that work must begin by next year for this goal to be possible.

Group Chairman Richard Simpson explained that, with the 95th anniversary of ANZAC Day observed this Sunday 25 April, it was an opportune moment to reflect on how New Zealand plans to mark the occasion five years from now.

“ANZAC Day has had a huge impact on shaping our national identity,” said Mr Simpson. “Come 2015, it is vitally important that we stand tall with Australia in recognising our cultural heritage. The construction of a new, world-class bridge is the ideal way to do that.”

Mr Simpson stressed, however, that if construction was to begin by 2015, planning work would have to begin within the next 12-18 months.

“An international bridge design competition and proper master-planning for the waterfront will have to be carried out first”, said Mr Simpson. “That means the initiative has to be progressed soon – it can’t just be left on the back-burner.”

The 2015 construction timeframe proposed by the ANZAC Centenary Bridge Group represents a significant advance on the post-2020 timeframe indicated so far by the Government.

Bringing forward the construction time-frame would allow Auckland and New Zealand to take advantage earlier of the wider economic benefits that the new bridge offers, Mr Simpson noted. These include released real estate, tourism, travel time and distance savings, and job creation.

“It would also mean that our reliance on the old bridge – which is fast withering and becoming increasingly costly to operate – is brought to a minimum,” commented Mr Simpson.

Mr Simpson added that a new tunnel, which is being considered as an equal option to the new bridge in the Government’s 20-year National Infrastructure Plan, had little commemorative significance.

“Of the two options, only a bridge could be the iconic structure that Auckland needs,” he said. “This is Auckland’s best opportunity to make a global architectural statement, just as Sydney’s Opera House and Bilbao’s Guggenheim Museum have done.”

The ANZAC Centenary Bridge Group consists of a number of well known local companies and organisations, including NZ Steel, Aspec Properties, the Returned Services’ Association, and the Heavy Engineering Research Association. It has received guidance on financial and technical matters from leading international consulting firms including Holmes Consulting, Davis Langdon, and others.

Representatives of the Group have had encouraging informal discussions on the ANZAC Centenary Bridge with Prime Minister John Key, Transport Minister Steven Joyce, Auckland MPs, and other government officials. The Group presented a paper to the NZTA Board last November.

Mr Simpson advised that the Group would continue to build the technical, financial and environmental case for the new bridge over the coming year.

ENDS

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