POWER LINE TO NELSON

Press, Volume XCV, Issue 28256, 18 April 1957, Page 12

POWER LINE TO NELSON

170 Towers Now

Completed Since last September 170 of the 686 towers which will carry the State Hydro-electric Department’s high-tension line linking the Cobb river system with the main South Island grid have been completed. The foundations for 300 more have been laid. The 220,000-volt line, which will be ready before the end of next year, will run from Islington northwards towards Hanmer Springs then on through rugged country and down the Wairau river valley to a sub-station to be built at Kikiwa, in Waimea county, 42 miles south of Nelson. More than 1000 tons of IJin steel-reinforced aluminium cable will be strung in spans averaging about 350 yards. The towers will vary in height from 50ft to 90ft. But before work could begin on the most rugged section the department had to build a road for access. Steel and concrete have to be taken into the hills to build the towers and miles of cable to carry the power. Work Awkward Work on the road, running from Hanmer basin to near Tophouse, about 72 miles away, began two years ago. For most of the distance it follows the line of the old Rainbow station road. Only one gap remains—at Hell’s Gate, a narrow gorge on the Wairau river guarded by steep rock bluffs. One steel and concrete bridge has been built and five more are needed. The longest will be of 198 ft, across the Wairau river in the Nelson section.

If the road, which is being built under contract to the State Hydroelectric Department, and will be vested in it, becomes a public road. Nelson will be brought 60 miles nearer- Christchurch for the private motorist.