Engineer Scott Leersnyder said moving the 90-tonne beams was probably the biggest lift on the Mackays to Peka Peka section of the $630 million expressway project.
They were trucked to the site, then lifted off the truck, had seismic cushioning attached, before being lifted over the river.
The job saw the crane stretched out to its maximum, while keeping the beam level, before the beam was spun with the help of people on the end of ropes, and lowered into place between supports.
The distance between supports on a bridge is called a span, and Leersnyder said there were five spans on the 180m long Waikanae bridge, each “formed” with 11 beams.
The latest work filling in two spans was set to be completed by May 8, before the crane returned in late May to finish the beam installation.
Project manager Alan Orange said a walking path, currently closed for the build, could be reopened before that date if the work ran ahead of schedule.
Work on the 18km Mackays to Peka Peka section of the four-lane expressway is hoped to be completed by the end of this year.
Eventually it will link with Transmission Gully, which is now under construction and set to be finished by 2020, and the Peka Peka to Otaki section of the expressway to the north, which is yet to be built.
