Waitaki Road Bridge

Press, Volume XCIII, Issue 28002, 23 June 1956, Page 8

Waitaki Road Bridge

Canterbury has special interests in the new road bridge across the Waitaki river which will be opened by the Minister of Works (Mr Goosman) today. The bridge is a fitting modern link between the provinces of Canterbury and Otago, which meet at the Waitaki river; and it will effect a marked and long-needed improvement to their main road communications. The existing bridge, after serving both rail and road traffic for 80 years, will, no doubt, continue to serve the railway well. But a long rail-and-road bridge on a main highway is an anachronism in the present transport age; passenger and goods traffic may make good time safely on wide, well-paved roads with scientifically graded bends and corners, only to be brought to a halt for long periods when road traffic must give way to rail. Even an unhindered passage by car across the Waitaki bridge could be an unpleasant business. There was always a fearsome din from rattling bolts and planks; and often the hazard of scratched body-work through contact with passing lorries and horse-floats.

The new Waitaki bridge merits notice for more reasons than the convenience it will bring to roadusers. The construction of the bridge was aided by favourable’ weather and river conditions. But other things were mainly responsible for the bridge being completed so much ahead of the “ target date ” March, 1957. The cylinders on which the bridge is borne were sunk into the river-bed by a completely new process; and it is the first large prestressed structure to be erected in this country. The construction of the Waitaki bridge has successfully introduced techniques which may speed the replacement of obsolete bridges and the construction of new ones. Moreover, the Waitaki bridge has been notable for first-class teamwork between the engineers and the men on the job. Thus a happy combination of several factors, human and mechanical (most of which can be reproduced elsewhere), has built in excellent time and at reasonable cost an amenity which will serve and grace one of the nation’s most important highways.