Eight years This highway bridge took 8 years to complete, including a two-and-a-half-year halt due to industrial action and other delays. A $230 million replica of the 1983 structure was built in 2010 to improve capacity. It remains open while plans for a new bridge are completed. The original Mangere Bridge was constructed by the New Zealand Department of Roads between 1947 and 1951. The new bridge is based on the old one with some modifications including wider lanes and a lift system for buses. The new bridge opened to traffic in November 2010, four months after its construction was completed. The previous bridge was then closed down until further notice. It's said that God is in his heaven and all's right with the world: but first you have to fix up your house. So it is with nations. While they're busy repairing their houses, something else falls down. The gutter may need cleaning, but not at the expense of the roof. I believe that if our countries were like homes, we'd all be living in repair shops waiting for someone to come and fix us up so we can go back out into the world again. Since the new bridge was opened, traffic has been flowing smoothly across it each day. No accidents or incidents have been reported since it opened.