Serious Positions Of County Bridge Subject Of Report By Engineer

Bay of Plenty Times, Volume LXXV, Issue 14431, 1 August 1947, Page 3

Serious Positions Of County Bridge Subject Of Report By Engineer

TTTvrrTL TO MAKE. APPLICATION TO LOANS C°P N BOARD TO BORROW £23,000

I « W e have inherited a sevc ■ ?J and we will have t« I « oD f tackle the bridge probL If £2 othe Tauranga Coi when referring to a r HStfO* N.G.Hansen); |f 5 yesterday, on the positi co,mt & his report the engine* • inns policy of bridge repli SS r partic n lcSy-would drift into, a bridges and access to settler ltS The question of the avail S?y next 15 years, was fe up immediately with ¥ After discussing the repoi ,- o +?nnbe made to the*Local pl fitV to borrow £23,000 fo: Stents over the remaimn I^Soutanddisrepairedbri l k. County Clerk (Mr E.M. Fox) ■ lIF Sat it would be necesK&el any existing outstand■^KSies in order to raise the ■S"i council further ftoo !'thaHhe loan authority for SiS don April 26, 1945, be jaV section 118 of the 1 Rndies Loan Act. Engineer stated that a report ; n fv bridges had been submit}}StS£Si council of the senNI iS existing and to enable iiSf to formulate a definite I y Of bridge replacement P t inspection, he stated, had been J£ of all bridges over streams m I ounty to ascertain their condiS expected life. Urgent rem necessary had -been ascertainlid the cost of replacing existing lidges had been estimated. The council had in the county, a total of 115 bridges made upas folmk- Eight reinforced concrete S es , total length 161 feet; four composite bridges, total length 136 feet- 27 culverts of pipes, etc., total ength 183 feet; 74 timber bridges, total length 2,247 feet; suspension footbridges, total length 284 feet;, total 115 structures spanning water courses, length 3,011 f eet. ■ Atotal of 75... per cent of the bridges were timber,' the majority of which were old. Bridges due for replacement during the next 15 years fee "as'follows:—29 were due for replacement in 5 years at a cost of £39,550; 15 are due for replacement jnftaWyears at a cost of £17,650; 19 we re due for replacement in 10 to 15 years at a cost of £16,320; making a total of 63. bridges due for replacement in 15 years at a cost of £73,520. / • Of the 29 due for replacement within five years there were ten which were unsafe and due for immediate replacement at an estimated cost'of £1*3,500.' Of these, work was inhand to replace three (Waiorohi, Taiitauand Kaikokopu) at a cost to. the'council of £3,800. These three ; bridges, added the engineer, carried Government subsidies. „ The Estimate, of costs to arrive at the figures had been based on present day costs. No allowance had been made for any rise in costs. The'county engineer recommended that previous representations to the Ministry of Works be followed up regarding an assurance that a Government subsidy would be • made available- to enable work to the extent of £BOOO per year to be pro-

ere hurdle as far as bridges are ;o meet it—we have no option lem in the county," stated the unty Council (Mr H. B. Capaceport presented by the County at the monthly meeting of the ion regarding all bridges in the ier emphasised that unless a acement was pursued over the sularly over the next five years , very serious position regarding cs. .' lability of Government subsidy required for 'bridge replacement he added, a matter which must the Ministry of Works. <rt the council decided that ap--1 Government Loans Board for »r a term of 30 years at 3& per :st 10 years and 3£ per cent for lg period, for the replacement idges by reinforced structures. ceeded with without prejudicing normal road metalling subsidies. It. was unlikely that any definite answer would be given regarding assured Government subsidies over a period of years. In that event the council would have "to take a chance" on having bridges renewed before they collapsed, or went ahead and built entirely from county funds. The engineer stated that no Government or Minister of Works could give an assurance of providing a £1 for £1 subsidy on bridges over a period of years. Replying to a question by Cr. C. Kennedy, he said that bridges on main highways were subject to £3 for £1 subsidies, but the Tauranga county was unfortunately in the position of'having very few main highways bridges. Dealing with the financial aspect of the bridging problem, the County Clerk informed the council that in 1910 the county, by poll, approved of a bridge rate of Id. in the £1 on the unimproved value. If, for example, the rate produced £2OOO then the council could spend it on the building of a bridge or it could raise a loan and'pay the interest and instalments out of the bridge fund account. The position was that the county still had the rate and it would produce something short of £2030. With a 30-year term the council could raise approximately £23,000 without exceeding that bridge rate. . , Referring to the bridging requirements in the county, Cr. Kennedy stated that he had never believed in "shuffling" their responsibility on to another council. They were there to administer the county and the "same principle as "the King is dead long live the King" applied. The engineer pointed out that if the council decided to go ahead with a bridge loan he felt sure all the designing work, plans and specifications could be done in the council's office. Cr. W. I. Rushton: T cannot see how we can do bridging without a loan. The engineer explained that some bridges were erected over swamp land at Maketu and he would not replace them with concrete structures but would provide timber bridges. It was not possible to estimate how much the Kaituna swamp would sink..