Standard bridge drawings were produced by the Public Works Department (PWD), Ministry of Works (MOW) and Ministry of Works and Development (MWD) throughout the lifetime of these organisations. Upon privatisation of the MWD the drawings continued to be maintained by Works Consultancy Services (WCS) and Opus International Consultants Ltd (Opus).
More recently new standard bridge beam drawings were developed through a Transport Agency research project undertaken by Beca and Opus. For details of these drawings see https://www.nzta.govt.nz/resources/research/reports/364/.
Historical standard bridge drawings produced by the MOW and MWD have been scanned from drawing folder sets. The most recent standard bridge drawings produced by WCS or Opus have been obtained from electronic records held by Opus.
Older standard bridge drawings produced by the PWD are now being sought from archives and will be added to this website when available.
These historical standard bridge drawings are made available for information purposes only noting the terms of the following important note.
Important note:
The user acknowledges that while these records were accurate as at the date they were produced there is no guarantee that they remain an accurate representation of the bridges and any use of or reliance on these drawings is at the user’s own risk.
Neither the Transport Agency nor Opus International consultants are responsible for the consequences of any other party’s use of or reliance on these historical drawings (for any purpose), and neither party shall be liable for any loss or damage incurred for any consequences arising from such use or reliance.
Each drawing folder set has a PDF document indexing the drawings contained within the folder. The indexes, which can be accessed below, include hyperlinks to each drawing.
Index of standard bridge drawings
Drawings | Date |
Ministry of Works Standard plans for highway bridges (Grey folder #1) | 1961 |
Ministry of Works Standard plans for highway bridges (Grey folder #2) | 1964 |
Ministry of Works Standard plans for highway bridges (Green folder) | 1970 |
Ministry of Works Standard plans for highway bridges (Red folder #1) | 1970 |
Ministry of Works and Development Standard plans for highway bridges (Red folder #2) (Blue folder) | 1980 |
Ministry of Works and Development | 1981 |
Works and Development Services Corporation (NZ) Ltd 1990 to be completed | 1990 |
For further information contact bridgemanual@nzta.govt.nz.