£15,000 FOR NEW BRIDGES

Press, Volume LXXIII, Issue 22121, 17 June 1937, Page 12

£15,000 FOR NEW BRIDGES

CHEVIOT LOAN POLL CARRIED OVERWHELMING MAJORITY By 200 votes to 24, ratepayers in the Cheviot County yesterday agreed to the raising of a loan of £15,000 to cover the County Council's share of the cost of constructing some 29 new bridges and culverts on access roads and highways throughout the county at a total estimated cost of £28,000. The sanction of the Local Government Loans Board has already been obtained to the loan on which the total annual payments have been estimated by the county engineer, Mr A. R. Callander, at £750, making necessary a special rate of 11-64ths of Id in the £ on unimproved valuation. On seven of the proposed new bridges the council will be entitled to a subsidy of £2 for £1 on the cost from the Main Highways Board and on the remainder there will be a Public Works subsidy of £1 for £l, making the council's total share of the cost £13,216. The main areas which will be served by the new bridges are the Kaiwarra, Leamington, and Leader valleys, where there are at present fords across the streams of the same name. Two bridges are also to be erected on the Gore Bay highway and culverts are to be placed across small streams throughout the county. All the structures will be built of reinforced concrete to reduce maintenance costs, and approaches and road alignments are to be improved at the same time. The term of the loan wi l . be for 35 years with a sinking fund of 1£ per cent. Interest will be paid on the loan at the rate of 3J per cent. Of the 226 votes cast in the poll, only two were informal.