PIERS SINK

Ashburton Guardian, Volume 48, Issue 83, 18 January 1928, Page 2

PIERS SINK

COLLAPSE OF A BRIDGE. Worries drop with deck. 'Per Press Association.) NAPIER, January 17. A fifth of the Waitangi bridge, about I six miles south from 'Napier on the main Napier-Hastings/ road, collapsed shortly before 11 o'clock this morning, and two motor-lorries, loaded with wool, narrowly escaped being thrown into the ami of the sea that runs under the bridge. Two small boys were travelling as passengers on one of the lorries, but neither they nor the driver was hurt. Evidently two piers between the second and third spans from the Napier end of the bridge subsided, and 45 feet of the bridge cracked and went down with the two vehicles. The debiting of the bridge remained just a few inches- above the water, but as the break was not a clean one, the two lorries stayed locked together. The affected part of the bridge is 'now a complete wreck, but the lorries and cargo were got clear before 2 p.m. Railway Department 'buses and other traffic was immediately diverted to roads through Pakowhai, Meeanee, and Taradale, and the 'bus service was kept running by means of using a train to unload passengers at the Waitangi washout crossing and take them to other 'buses waiting at ■ the dive railway station. The lorries were following each other into Napier, and the leader, which was 35 feet in frqjvfc of the second, weighed 73cwt, and was loaded with 24 bales of wool amounting to something like 4J tons', so its weight would be little less than eight tons. The second lorry was carrying only 10 bales of wool, and the total weight of the vehicle and loan was not much more than four tons. The driver of the first lorry was only 40 feet off reaching the road when he was amazed to find the lorry unaccountable stopped. Then it seemde to tint backwards and run downhill. It was a most eerie sensation. The driver attempted to change gears so as to get up the slope of the sinking bridge, but was too late. In the meantime the driver of the second lorry had been in an equally startling plight. The bridge began to crack just as the front wheels of the lorry crossed the piers ahead, and down went the bridge. Before he had time to apply the brakes the lorry rushed forward and the two vehicles- met at the bottom of the V that had been made. One of the hoys on the second lorry jumped clear, but the other stayed with the driver. The force of the impact from the front lorry ripped the bonnet off the rear lorry. "With the aid of tractors, both lorries were pulled clear after three hours' work. An examination of the bridge seemed to indicate that neither of the piers under the broken part snapped or buckled, but they merely subsided into the mud.