NEW WATTAKI BRIDGE

Press, Volume LXXXIX, Issue 27148, 18 September 1953, Page 10

NEW WATTAKI BRIDGE

APPEAL FOR EARLY COMPLETION TRIBUTE TO BUILDERS OF PRESENT STRUCTURE (From Our Parliamentary Reporter) WELLINGTON, September 17. The combined road and rail bridge over the Waitaki river was so old that it almost qualified for inclusion in the list of historic places, said Mr T. L. Hayman (Government, Oamaru) in the House of Representatives today. It was almost 80 years old, and the need for a new bridge was urgent, he said. Some progress was being made. Steel for the iob had arrived, and a special French hammer grab, at present being tried out- on the Hope river, would speed up the sinking of the cylinders and do away with the need for using compressed air when driving down through the shingle. Prestressing would enable the bridge to be designed with a smaller amount of steel than normal, Mr Hayman said. He hoped the new bridge would give as much service as the old one. The old bridge would still be ’.sed for rail traffic, as it was as sound now as on the day it was built, with the exception of one or two main beams. Mr Hayman suggested that the Automobile Association could assist in the building of the new bridge by making a loan. “The Waitaki river bridge is' one of the most outstanding engineering feats of New Zealand, and it is a monument to the pioneers of Oamaru who, within 14 years of settling the town, planned this bridge, which has stood for 80 years,* he concluded.