Commuters using the Auckland Harbour Bridge are being promised smoother, safer motoring thanks to an upgrade of the moveable lane barrier system.
The 2.2km concrete barrier was replaced over the weekend, but it is the arrival of two new barrier moving vehicles that's causing the real stir.
The vehicles are 20 metres long, weigh 28 tonnes and travel 15km/h.
The new machine is part of a $6.6 million of the bridge's moveable lane barrier system, which was first introduced in 1980 to reduce the number of head on collisions on the bridge.
"The real issue is saving lives," says Barrier Systems' Chris Sanders. "For the five years prior to installing the old barrier on the bridge, there were I think 10 deaths. In the last 18 years there have been none from crossover accidents."
The original barrier was the first of its kind anywhere in the world, but 19 years of development have seen a number of improvements.
The new machines travel twice as fast as the old ones, meaning it will take just 20 minutes to move the entire barrier.
The barrier itself has also been modified.. The vertical faces giving a smoother redirection if they are hit by a car.
"The key thing with this barrier is it is a reactive tension system," Mr Sanders explains. "So the deflection when a vehicle does hit it is about half of the old barrier and that means that your barrier will move into the other lane less."
Each block is also 20 centimetres narrower than the old ones.
"We've narrowed the width of the barrier which gives us more lane width," says NZ Transport Agency regional director Wayne McDonald. "And that's been one of the uncomfortable things under the old system in that people felt a bit hemmed in as they drove over."
The original barrier moving vehicles were only designed to last for five years, but instead they have been crossing the harbour bridge four times a day for over 19 years.
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