The bridge over the Waitematā Harbour, which linked Auckland city with the North Shore, was opened on 30 May 1959. This photograph was taken half an hour after the bridge opened. Within 80 days more than one million cars had passed over it. After seven years it became obvious that four lanes was not enough. The bridge was widened with ‘Nippon clip-ons’ – Japanese-engineered box girders, which added two extra lanes on either side of the bridge. The bridge caused a development boom on the North Shore and cemented the car as the pre-eminent form of transport in New Zealand’s largest city.