Public response

Public response to the Bridge varied, and the decision to go ahead was not welcomed by everyone. Once construction had started there was great interest in roadworks and progress of the Bridge.

People invested in various public issues of the Auckland Harbour Bridge loan, with Sir John Allum reported as saying that "the authority never had the slightest difficulty in getting money".

The public were given the opportunity to walk across the 3348 foot long Bridge on Sunday 24 May, and over 106,000 people made the journey.

A two-week festival celebrating the opening of the Bridge was held between 18 May and 1 June. Events included a military tattoo, bonfire night, century ball, Miss Queen Street personality contest, fireworks, Bridge Queen Contest, Grand Harbour Parade, and procession "Cavalcade of progress".

The Harbour Bridge Authority received votes of thanks, and letters of congratulations from the public.

Protests about paying tolls appeared in the paper even before the Bridge opened - the toll for a car was 2/6 (25 cents). However that didn’t seem to stop the volume of traffic – over 20,000 vehicles crossed the Bridge on the first day.

One million vehicles had crossed the Bridge by mid-August, just eleven weeks after the Bridge’s opening. From the toll booth Lady Allum presented a silver cocktail tray to the driver of the one millionth vehicle, Mr G.R. Robbins.

The occupants of the 100 millionth vehicle to cross the Bridge were presented with a silver jug.