BRIDGE AT AVIEMORE

Press, Volume CIV, Issue 30831, 17 August 1965, Page 18

BRIDGE AT AVIEMORE

Re-erection Over Hooker The Steel bridge resting on concrete piers in the middle of the Aviemore power project on the Waitaki river has been removed. Provisional arrangements have been made for its re-erection over the Hooker river on the Ball Hut road.

The bridge was built in 1932 when the Waitaki power project was under way. It provided access to the Te Aka and Waitangi sheep stations on the Canterbury side of the river. The road to the stations before the Waitaki power scheme was started was the old Slip road, part of which may still be seen above Lake Waitaki.

Six spans of the bridge, each 60ft long and weighing 40 tons, complete with decking and hand rails, were removed by two cranes and an 80-ton transporter. The main span, the longest of its type in New Zealand, was dismantled in three equal sections each approximately 70ft long and weighing 75 tons.

In f uture, access across the river at Aviemore will be along the top of the upstream coffer dam and over a Bailey bridge to the main road between Kurow and Qmarama.