Christchurch was surveyed in 1850 with a regular grid layout, interrupted by the Avon River and two diagonal roads making connections to the port in Lyttelton and to the northern hinterland.

[1] After settlement of Christchurch having started in December 1850, the Society of Land Purchasers under the chairmanship of Guise Brittan arranged for a first bridge to be erected in the market square, and this was done in March 1852.

[1][3][4][5][6] The bridge gave access from Christchurch to the 36 hectares (89 acres) Papanui Bush, some 6.5 kilometres (4.0 mi) away and at the time the end of the road.

[1][7] In 1852, the price of firewood in Christchurch was 21s to 24s depending on quality, but only 7s in Papanui Bush, with the balance the cost of carting, which demonstrates the importance of making transport easier.

[12] In August 1863, it was resolved for lights to be installed by the Christchurch Town Council on the Colombo and Papanui bridges, so that pedestrians could find their way to the safe crossing points at night.

Fox and Henderson Co. was also charged with tendering the work, and the commission for wrought iron girders went to Head Ashby of Stockton-on-Tees at a cost of £605.

[1] Meanwhile, the local bridge design was undertaken by the Assistant Provincial Engineer, James Wylde, and the site works awarded to Edward George Wright, whose winning tender was £2,375.

[17] Wright constructed solid square stone blocks for the girders to terminate in, and the bridge was built at a width of 27 feet 6 inches (8.38 m).

The honour of opening the bridge fell to John Ollivier as chairman of the Christchurch Town Council, and Dr William Donald as resident magistrate of Lyttelton.

[19] The new bridge was heavily criticised by one of the local newspapers, The Press, for being of a much more complex and expensive construction type than would have been necessary, yet they questioned whether the abutments would even withhold the lateral forces induced by the reasonably flat girders.

In Dr Barker's house, located on the corner of Worcester Street and Oxford Terrace and thus only some 400 metres (1,300 ft) upstream from the Victoria Bridge, the water was 3 feet (0.91 m) deep.

[17] In October 1877, George Gould presented a petition to the city council to have Whately Road renamed to Victoria Street, which was acceded to.

[17] Part of the bridge deck was removed to make the cast iron girders visible, and tram tracks were incorporated into the design as a reminder of the transport history.