Bridge finding criticised

Press, Volume CXI, Issue 32677, 5 August 1971, Page 13

Bridge finding criticised

(N.Z. Press Assn.—Copyright) MELBOURNE, August 4.

The future of all building firms associated with the West Gate Bridge disaster, in which 35 men were killed last October, was under review, the chairman of the Lower Yarra (River) Crossing Authority (Mr O. G. Meyer) said today.

Mr Meyer said that the authority would consider recovering, for “professional indemnity” money from Freeman, Fox and Partners, the Lorfdon firm of . bridge designers which bore the brunt of the criticism in the commission’s report. An independent inquiry into the disaster was being carried out by Professor J. W. Roderick, of Sydney University, and Professor R. J. Roik, of West Germany. Authority defended

He denied unequivocally the commission’s allegation that the authority had made “quick and ill-considered decisions” over the West Gate project; he felt that the authority had defined clearly areas of responsibility. It was also incorrect of the Royal Commission to criticise the general manager of the Lower Yarra Crossing

Authority, Mr C. A. Wilson, for not making proper inspections of the bridge.

Mr Wilson told reporters today that when the West Gate Bridge project was begun again in 1973, the method of erection would be radically different. The authority had abandoned the method of lifting two half-spans, and would build the rest of the bridge on the cantilever principle of building out from either end. Mr Wilson said that the completed span on the east side of the bridge was being investigated, and modification to that span would almost certainly be required. The new contractors for the bridge would be responsible for this span, as well as for the collapsed section. Findings “exaggerated” Mr Meyer told a press conference that the authority accepted that it had some measure of responsibility, but he, personally, felt that some of the findings of the Royal Commission, announced yesterday, were “exaggerated.” Work on the bridge spans would now be carried out by a new consortium, led by the British firm of Redpath, Dorman Long, one of.the original tenderers for the steel span contract and a firm with a world-wide reputation for bridge-building. The Royal Commission re-

port described the disaster as inexcusable and unnecessary, and said that parties engaged in the construction of the steel spans were responsible for “mistakes, miscalculations, errors of judgment, failure of communication, and- sheer inefficiency.”