23 June 2026
It was all about our future engineers and ecologists at the open day for the St Leger Bridge rebuild.
Students from Tiniroto and Waerenga-o-Kuri schools were given a behind-the-scenes look at the project, getting up close to the construction site and the machinery helping bring the new bridge to life.
St Leger Bridge is one of four bridges being rebuilt as part of Council’s $241m Cyclone Gabrielle recovery programme.
As part of the visit, students learned some fascinating facts about the scale of the project. The new bridge contains 114 tonnes of steel – about the same weight as 20 elephants – and 564 tonnes of concrete, equivalent to around 375 cars. At 86 metres long, the bridge is nearly the length of a rugby field.
They also discovered that much of the bridge lies hidden beneath the ground. Like an iceberg, most of the bridge piles are out of sight, extending up to 17 metres below ground while standing around 10 metres above river level. Construction has also involved moving around 30,000 cubic metres of material – enough to fill approximately 2,000 dump trucks.
Tiniroto School Principal Allison Maru said the project has become a key part of this term’s learning, given its significance to the local community.
“The tamariki have really enjoyed learning about this project and its importance to their community,” she said.
“To have the opportunity to see the project up close and ask the engineers questions about the bridge has been awesome.”
Waerenga-o-Kuri School Principal Richard McCosh said it was important for students to understand the changes happening around them.
“With the major Tiniroto Bypass also underway, these are significant infrastructure projects for our area. The students have had so much fun interacting with the machinery and talking with the staff on site today.”
The St Leger Bridge rebuild is expected to be completed by the end of the year.
