City to Sea Bridge

The City to Sea Bridge is a pedestrian bridge and public artwork located in Wellington City, New Zealand. Opened on 31 October 1993, the wedge-shaped bridge crosses arterial road Jervois Quay, connecting the public spaces of Civic Square to the Wellington waterfront precinct at Whairepo Lagoon. Around the square are the Michael Fowler Centre, Wellington Town Hall, Wellington City Art Gallery and Wellington Central Library.

In 1983 the Wellington Civic Trust ran a competition for ideas for the space between the former overseas passenger terminal and the railway station, and to find a solution for the separation of the city from the harbour. Following on from this, architects Rewi Thompson and John Gray were commissioned by Wellington City Council to design the bridge, and they brought in artist Paratene Matchitt to contribute sculptural artworks. The Council's brief was that the bridge should address the significance of the waterfront and public space.

The bridge is adorned with non-traditional wooden sculptures carved by Matchitt, some of which form its sides. On one side are two large birds representing welcome and festivity. On the other are two whales which can also be seen as the taniwha Ngake and Whātaitai, who according to Māori legend created Wellington Harbour. Poles on the bridge have metal shapes on them. Some represent the moon and stars, signifying celestial navigation. Other symbols on the poles are inspired by those on Te Kooti's flag Te Wepu. Matchitt's work was influenced by Te Kooti's philosophies and he used these symbols in other sculptures as well as the bridge.

The whole layered bridge structure represents the uplifted and eroded landforms of Wellington and a point of arrival and change. At the Civic Square base of the bridge are two Oamaru stone sculptures by Matt Pine, titled Prow and Capital. A plaque here states:"Capital and Prow: The sculptures by Matt Pine on either side of the stairs are part of a series of 10 works called Reflections on an Ancient Past. Capital (above) is based on European classical architectural elements with koru form on the edges. Prow (on the other side) depicts a Maori canoe prow with Taniko weave motif on the edges - a mix of European and Maori cultural elements."

Reception
Art historian Robin Woodward identifies City to Sea Bridge as what he saw as one of the top sculptures that "[integrated] the urban and the sculptural" in New Zealand, alongside Terry Stringer's Mountain Fountain (1981) and Greer Twiss' Karangahape Rocks (1969). Public reaction to the bridge was mixed when it was built, but it has become a tourist attraction in its own right.

History
Between 15 October 2011 and 31 January 2012, protesters set up a camp on the raised grassed area on the Civic Square side of the bridge. The protest, 'Occupy Wellington', began in support of the international Occupy movement but during the occupation the focus changed to an emphasis on homelessness. The protest cost ratepayers more than $65000 in legal fees, security and repairing damage to the lawn.

Problems with the bridge's design and construction have been ongoing. Remedial work was undertaken shortly after the bridge opened when it was found that small children could fall through gaps. Inadequate drainage leading to rot was discovered in 2009 and urgent strengthening work to prevent its "unexpected collapse" was undertaken in 2010 and 2011. The bridge's superstructure and frame were built to then-current standards, but its piles to an outdated 1984 standard, and do not extend fully down to bedrock. In August 2018 an engineering assessment based on a visual inspection found the piles were built to handle lower earthquake loads than the rest of the bridge, but noted that these structural problems might actually improve its resistance to earthquakes, by taking to load off other parts of the structure during an earthquake, and that previous strengthening work had been done correctly, raising it to 40 per cent of New Building Standard.

In November 2023, Wellington City Council announced that as part of its ten-year plan it would cut $170m from its budget for Civic Square and the City to Sea Bridge. Councillors voted against spending the $230m needed to strengthen the bridge and the Capital E building adjoining it, and instead allocated $65m to look at three options, one involving strengthening and two others the demolition of both structures. One of the original architects, John Gray, began a campaign to save the bridge, stating that losing it would be like "losing a brother".