The interest-free loan was part of a billion-dollar fund up for grabs in 2016 to deliver housing outcomes.
Council infrastructure and assets general manager Andrew Parsons said overall the project was ahead of the government’s schedule by almost a full year.
Parsons said bulk funding helped avert some delays caused by border closures during Covid-19, including by allowing all the steel – about $5m worth – to be procured from overseas at once.
The steel was then sent to the country’s two largest fabricators in Whangārei and Hawke’s Bay, where work continued uninterrupted by the Auckland and Waikato lockdown in late 2021, which lasted between three and four months.
The bridge features two extra lanes than usual, for vehicles with more than one passenger, crash barriers next to the road, wide footpaths on either side which connect to Te Awa Cycle Trail, and a balustrade which gives a view of the Waikato River 36m below.
The balustrade, underside and a pedestrian bridge above, are all constructed with Cor-Ten steel – an atmospheric corrosion resistant steel which ironically looks like rust.