BRIDGE COLLAPSES UNDER LOAD

Press, Volume LXXXIX, Issue 27226, 18 December 1953, Page 9

BRIDGE COLLAPSES UNDER LOAD

MISHAP ON WEST COAST (From Our Own Reporter) GREYMOUTH, December 17. Under the weight of a transport lorry laden wtih a bulldozer, a span of the traffic bridge across the Little Wanganui (or Poerua) river, three miles south of Harihari on the West Coast Main South highway, collapsed yesterday afternoon. Vehicles are being ferried across the river by a truck until the completion of temporary repairs, which should be before Christmas Eve. The span, the second of the six in the bridge, gave way beneath the laden truck, which, with the bulldozer on its deck, crashed through to the riverbed. No-one was injured. The truck was not badly damaged, and the bulldozer was later used to help ferry other traffic across the river, which is fairly shallow at this time of year. Unless floods occur, the ferry service, which is operated between 7 a.m. and 8 p.m., should prevent a hold-up of southern traffic until the temporary repairs are completed. The Ministry of Works is planning to replace the broken span with two trusses of steel girders which were taken from stock at Greymouth last night and sent south. A pier may have to be built to carry the trusses. The bridge is a wooden truss structure built about 27 years ago. The span was 60 feet long.