From around the 1860s small stone arch bridges formed a vernacular architectural solution to the problem of stream-crossing on the road along Lyttelton Harbour in Canterbury, New Zealand. This article presents an archaeological study of one of these bridges, known as Radcliffe Bridge, and its relationship with an adjoining 19th-century accommodation house. It describes the design and construction of the bridge with a consideration of the interplay of local environmental and historical factors which influenced the utilisation of the structure. It goes on to explore local impacts of the bridge, specifically its relationship with the development of the adjacent accommodation house. It is shown that both the bridge and accommodation house formed interlinked components bound up with the development of the local transport network. This highlights an aspect of the interconnectedness of various elements that make up colonial, land-based transport networks in 19th-century New Zealand.