Creating Infrastructure that instantly becomes the best place to be in a City does not happen by chance but rather by collaboration. This is the story of the He Ara Kotahi Pedestrian and Cycle Bridge (The Bridge that brings us together) in Palmerston North that opened this year. This presentation will tell the story of how this key piece of infrastructure was planned, progressed and created to tell the story of the local Rangitane Iwi.
 

Strong Urban design features partnered with strong Iwi support throughout has resulted in the Bridge carrying 50,000 users within the first two months, being voted the best place to be in Palmerston North, re-routing of the marathon route to include the new bridge and now being embraced as one of top local tourist attractions.
 

It is not just a bridge but a story. The story starts with the Iwi anchor stone buried at the bottom of the pile deep in the rivers base, includes the Iwi legend of the sacred karaka grove and the beautiful local iwi designed artwork on the bridge deck, then is finished off with the stunning night lighting. This community place has been labelled by the local Iwi as a Taonga of not just local but national significance.
 

This project was part of the governments Urban Cycle Way programmed and was one of the few major infrastructure projects of this magnitude, $15 Million dollars, with a significant consenting process, to achieve the deadline of delivery.
 

This abstracts' presenter is not a planner, but an engineer. Peter will provide a fresh perspective at a planning conference and show that it is not all about the numbers and flows, but creating attractive and fun places are important, even to engineers.
 

This presentation will be of interest to planners, councillors, Iwi and place makers.

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