Looking out our second floor balcony you can catch a glimpse of the waitemata harbour and beyond that is ragitoto island. The name Waitemata is generally considered to mean “sparkling waters”.
Few of the world’s developed harbors have survived unscathed by bridges. Auckland managed to use ferries to resist the need for a bridge until 1955. Since its completion in 1959, the bridge across Waitemata Harbour (parly covered by tree above) is almost single-handedly credited with opening up the North Shore to rapid development. Previously, the North Shore was a vacation destination with pockets of development. Now it’s become a collection of modern suburbs (prefered residential area by pinoys in auckland), and with that transformation came problems with traffic congestion. An innovative approach was taken in the late 1960’s when two lanes were added to each side of the bridge. The expansion was created by a Japanese company, and thereafter became known as the "Nippon Clip-ons." These served the city well until the late 1980’s, when congestion once again became a problem. By 2000 160,000 vehicles were crossing the bridge each day and now the city is considering adding a second span, or a tunnel so people can get across the harbor.
