Auwaiakeakua Bridge, Spanning Auwaiakekua Gulch at Mamalahoa Highway, Waikoloa, Hawaii County, HI

Significance: The 'Auwaiakeakua Bridge was constructed along the Mamalahoa Highway in 1940 by the Territory of Hawai'i to span the deep 'Auwaiakekua Gulch and its intermittent waterway. The project utilized Federal-aid funds allocated for the upgrading of the Hawai'i Island belt road system in the 1930s. The Mamalahoa Highway was the primary circum-island belt road until a new coastal road (the Queen Ka'ahumanu Highway) was completed in the 1970s. The bridge is a rare surviving example of a once common structural type - the timber stringer bridge - and typifies bridges built by the Territorial government in the immediate pre-World War II period. The bridge also represents the "work of a master"; William R. Bartels of the Territorial Highways Department. Bartels was responsible for the design of all major Territorial bridge projects between 1932 and his retirement from the department in 1956. The contractor, Otto Medeiros, built many other Federal-aid bridges on the island of Hawai'i.

Survey number: HAER HI-41

vehicular bridges hawaii auwaiakeakua bridge auwaiakeakua bridge auwaiakekua gulch auwaiakekua gulch mamalahoa highway mamalahoa highway waikoloa hawaii county historic american engineering record photo ultra high resolution high resolution infrastructure library of congress

1969 - 1980

Library of Congress

http://www.loc.gov/

No known restrictions on images made by the U.S. Government; images copied from other sources may be restricted. http://www.loc.gov/rr/print/res/114_habs.html