WESTERN VIADUCT.

Auckland Star, Volume LXII, Issue 117, 20 May 1931, Page 10

WESTERN VIADUCT.

NEW BRIDGE ON ORDER. TO OPERATE ELECTRICALLY. READY AT END OF YEAR. A three-line paragraph in "The Overseas Engineer," a trade publication printed in London, caused a good deal of speculation in Auckland. It reads: "The order for the new bridge, which is to be of the opening type, over Auckland Harbour, New Zealand, lias been placed with the Cleveland Bridge and Engineering Co., Ltd., of Darlington.' Naturally several people • thought the Auckland Harbour Bridge Association's efforts had borne very early fruit. But the bridge that is being made at Darlington is intended to span only a very small bit of Auckland Harbour. It is the bridge for the viaduct from Quay Street to connect the Freeman's Bay reclamation. The viaduct was recently completed, and at present there is a temporary wooden foot-bridge to let pedestrians across the gap, and it will be in use until the new bridge is erected. The bridge will be of the opening type, to allow vessels to enter the basin on the south side of the. viaduct, which is extensively used by the timber, shingle, fish and cement trades. It is to be 30ft wide, and in addition to the roadway will carry one line of railway to connect with the Western wharf and the oil companies' sidings at Freeman's Bay. When in the open position, the bridge will give a 45ft wide clear waterway 7 which is ample for the class of vessels, using the basin. When it opens, the type of bridge selected rolls backward on speciallyconstructed tracks as the outer end lifts. It is operated and controlled electrically. It is expected that the bridge will be delivered in Auckland towards the end of the year, and it will be erected by the Auckland Harbour Board's own staff of workmen.

A particularly fine job has been made of the viaduct, which is solid at the eastern or city end, and of ordinary pile pier construction on the Freeman's Bay end. Approximately the solid wall is one-third of the total length. The j present foot-bridge has been found to be a great convenience to people bavin" business in the neighbourhood "of the I'Western •wharf, > .