RANGITATA TRAFFIC BRIDGE

Press, Volume LXXI, Issue 21646, 3 December 1935, Page 6

RANGITATA TRAFFIC BRIDGE

IMPROVEMENTS SUGGESTED

(SPECIAL TO THI PKEB3.) GERALDINE, December 2. Improvements to the surface of the Rangitata traffic bridge at Arundel wiil be carried out shortly if the Main Highways Board and the Ashburton County Council agree to proposals made at a meeting of the Geraldine County Council to-day.

The chairman (Mr K. Mackenzie) said that the engineer (Mr Bremner) still thought that the decking should' be levelled. Messrs Sanders and Company, who were working in the county, were prepared to put a slight camber of bitumen from the raised longitudinal planking to the sides of the bridge, at a cost of £440, The Geraldine County Council's share would be about £SO.

A letter from the Ashburton County clerk advised that a letter had been received from Mr F. ILangbein, Highways Board representative in Canterbury, stating that the Highways Board had considered the widening of the longitudinal planking on the Rangitata traffic bridge, and it was not proposed to go on with the work meantime.

. It was decided to. write to the Ashburton County Council asking if it would be prepared to pay for its portion of the cost. It was also decided to write to the Asßburton County Council about an improvement that could be carried out at the south end of the bridge by , sealing a vertical curve at a cost of an additional £3O. . Whether the raised longitudinal planking on the centre, of the Ramifata trame bridge constitutes a dan", ger has been' discussed on several occasions since an accident early in the year, when a Chinese was killed and several were injured through a car crashing over the side of the bridge. The coroner at the inquest commerced on the possibility of the gap between the longitudinal plankinsr and the side of the Bridge being dangerous.