WAITAKI ROAD BRIDGE

Press, Volume XCIII, Issue 27912, 8 March 1956, Page 10

WAITAKI ROAD BRIDGE

FOUNDATIONS ALMOST COMPLETED “The Press’* Special Service OAMARU, March 7. In a few days the hammer grab, used for sinking foundations on the new Waitaki road bridge, will leave the project, its work completed. Sixtyone of the 62 cylinders to be sunk have been finished and the machine is now working on the last —at the southern end of the project. Work is being concentrated on the northern end of the bridge, where three 99ft spans have yet to be constructed on the cylinders already completed. This work will be completed within four weeks and the Waitaki river will be diverted to a new course to enable construction to be pushed ahead at the southern end of the bridge. At the extreme northern end several spans have been completed, except for handrails and walkways. The four sections now being constructed will link up the northern end to the large completed section extending to within 300 ft of the southern approach. When this work is carried through 2015 ft of the 2970 ft long bridge will be completed. The grab is now working on the last cylinder and when work is shifted to the southern end of the project five , 99ft sections will have to be constructed.

At present the deck pours are five months ahead of the estimated schedule when the project began. It was expected that the bridge would be completed by February, 1957, but with records being broken every month work may end by z September or October, providing there are no major hold-ups. The bridge will have to stand for about a month after completion before being put into commission. It is possible, therefore, that traffic will be passing over the bridge in early November.

f In the last calendar month five decks—a record—were poured. This is the absolute maximum that can be achieved with the equipment available working full time. To date about 4000 yards of concrete have been poured into the project and 230 tons of steel used.