New Zealand's Bridges: Malcolm Avenue Footbridge across the Heathcote River in Christchurch

March 2011 (-43.565 Degrees, 172.674 Degrees) Malcolm Avenue Footbridge

The Heathcote River doesn't have any elegant 19th Century crossings, because it meanders through suburbs built after WWII. Instead, there are a lot of footbridges to get kids to school and a few road bridges. The footbridges are well-designed to carry pedestrians but they don't have any details to resist lateral loads. Note how the abutment was broken from a combination of strong shaking and lateral spreading during the February 2011 earthquake. However, it is held in place by the embankment and continues to support the superstructure.

New Zealand's Bridges: Malcolm Avenue Footbridge across the Heathcote River in Christchurch by Mark Yashinsky is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 United States License.

New Zealand's Bridges: Wilsons Road Bridge across the Heathcote River in Christchurch

March 2011 (-43.553 Degrees, 172.650 Degrees) Wilsons Road Bridge

Continuing on a rather hit or miss journey up the Heathcote River to a single span slab bridge built in 1970. My notes say that the bridge had utility damage from the February 2011 earthquake. However, all the moss suggests that water has always flowed out of this abutment wall. 

New Zealand's Bridges: Wilsons Road Bridge across the Heathcote River in Christchurch by Mark Yashinsky is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License.

New Zealand's Bridges: Ensors Road Bridge across the Heathcote River in Christchurch

March 2011 (-43.553 Degrees, 172.657 Degrees) Ensors Road Bridge

A single span T girder bridge over the Heathcote River. New Zelanders do a nice job of landscaping around their bridges. Part of it must be the mild climate encourages low maintenance plants.  

Note the crib wall on the far bank. These are just masonry elements stuck into the side of a hill. However, I've never seen a crib wall fail during an earthquake. In Santa Cruz after the Loma Prieta earthquake tall crib walls were still supporting the side of a hill after slope stabilty failures.

The only damage to this bridge during the February earthquake was some settlement at the approaches.

New Zealand's Bridges: Ensors Road Bridge across the Heathcote River in Christchurch by Mark Yashinsky is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License.