Hinaki Eel Trap Bridge, Footbridge and sculpture in Wesley, New Zealand.
The Hinaki Eel Trap Bridge is a 20-metre steel footbridge over Oakley Creek in Auckland, designed by Dan Crocker and built in 2015. Its steel beams are arranged to resemble a hinaki, the woven eel trap of Maori fishing, so the crossing reads as a sculpture as much as a path. It links residential streets on both banks for pedestrians and cyclists.
The bridge was designed and built in 2015 by engineer Dan Crocker as a combined pedestrian crossing and art installation within Auckland's infrastructure development programme. Its steel form takes the shape of a hinaki, the woven eel trap used in Maori fishing, so the crossing carries a reference to local fishing practice.
The bridge's form imitates a hinaki, a woven eel trap, and its name comes from that Maori fishing device. Oakley Creek was a traditional eeling spot, and the structure keeps that association visible beside the shared path.
The bridge offers a dry, level path accessible to pedestrians and cyclists with no special requirements. Visitors can pass through at any time since it is publicly accessible, and lighting conditions change the visual experience throughout the day.
The trap shape is a hinaki, a woven eel basket: the steel ribs widen toward the creek mouth so the bridge reads as a net set across Oakley Creek. Dan Crocker designed it in 2015, and the name ties the crossing to the eel fishing once done in this waterway.
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