Kopu Bridge

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Kopu Bridge
Crosses	Waihou River
Locale	Hauraki Plains / Coromandel Peninsula
Maintained by	Transit New Zealand
Design	Swing Bridge
Longest span	43m
Total length	463m
Width	4m
Beginning date of construction	1926
Completion date	1928

The Kopu Bridge is a single lane swing bridge that spans the Waihou River, near its emergence into the Firth of Thames in the Thames-Coromandel District of New Zealand's North Island. The bridge was completed in 1928 and is part of State Highway 25. The swinging span in the middle of the bridge is 43 metres long and with an overall length of 463 metres, the bridge is the longest and oldest single lane bridge within the state highway network. It is also the only surving road bridge of the swing span type in the country and the New Zealand Historic Places Trust lists the bridge as a category 1 historic place^[1]. It is the first available crossing of the Waihou River and the main link between the Hauraki Plains and Coromandel Peninsula. Due to a gradual increase in the traffic between Auckland and the Coromandel Peninsula, by the early 1990s the bridge became the most heavily used single lane bridge in the country with, traffic volumes exceeding 4,000 vehicles per day. Traffic flow over the bridge is controlled by traffic lights and the bridge is notorious for queues which form during peak times such as holiday weekends.

In 2006, Transit New Zealand announced their intention to build a second bridge slightly upstream of the existing bridge and to route the State Highway over the new bridge.^[2] Due to its historical significance, the existing bridge will be retained.