Percy Burn Viaduct, Wooden railway bridge and footbridge in Fiordland, New Zealand
Percy Burn Viaduct is a timber trestle bridge on the former Port Craig logging tramway in the far south of New Zealand's South Island. Built in 1923, it is 125 metres long and 36 metres high, carrying a walking route across the Percy Burn on a series of wooden towers.
The bridge was built in 1923 to carry logs across the valley for a nearby timber operation that closed around 1928. The structure then stood unused for decades before being restored for walking access.
The viaduct is named after the Percy Burn stream it crosses, one of four deep burns that the Port Craig bush tramway had to span. Today it is the best-known feature of the Tuatapere Hump Ridge Track, and walkers cross it on foot on the former logging line.
The viaduct is on the Tuatapere Hump Ridge Track and the South Coast Track. It was closed in May 2013 because of rotting timber, and an alternative bypass route was built by the Department of Conservation. It reopened in late 2018 after restoration.
The viaduct was closed to the public in May 2013 after rotting timber raised safety concerns, and the Department of Conservation built a bypass route. It reopened in late 2018 after restoration funded by a NZ$480,000 pledge from the Department of Conservation and Environment Southland in February 2014.
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