COLLAPSE OF SPAN

Evening Post, Volume CXXXV, Issue 150, 26 June 1943, Page 6

COLLAPSE OF SPAN

WHIROKINO BRIDGE

STATEMENT BY MINISTER "The uninjured marine in the jeep which went into, the river has now admitted that he crashed into one of the main struts, of the bridge," said the Minister of Works (Mr. Semple) last night when referring to the • recent collapse of a- span of ;the W.hirokino Bridge- near Foxton '-recently. Mr. Semple said1 he had instructed) the Main Highways-Board, to make a thorough investigation into, the cause of the/ collapse.■ The .collapsed span was': being. ; salvaged' for that" purpose. When .the jeep into: the strut it caused the span/ to collapse, and the jeep and its occupants were carried into.thfeTiver<as~it;fell. ■■ . , An examination of the portions of the span so far recovered had shown that the timber, was-in as good order as could be expected from the. age of the bridge, and there was 119. evidence tp. show:that .lack of- maintenance in any way contributed towards the collapse. The bridge had been regularly inspected since it-was taken over from the county in 1937, and defective timbers had ■ been replaced where necessary. ■ The • last inspection was ■ made on-May 28, a few days before the accident on June 3. The bridge had been considered-unsuitable from a traffic point of view for many years, and had it not been. for the -.war., would. ..have been replaced by. a .reinforced concrete bi'idge.NO TEMPORARY USE. 1 After ■- the' collapse ,it. had been proposed to put a temporary, span.across and '-use the bridgeVagain. It was felt, however, that no further risks should be "taken with it, and instructions had been-given that-a new bridge was to be constructed as quickly as possible. A contract had already been let, and the was getting; men and plant oh to the job. The work would be pushed with the utmost expedition. The condition of the timber bridging' still remaining oh the, highways had been giving both the Minister .and the Main Highways Board,much concern, and before1 the outbreak of war every effort was being made to replace them as quickly as possible. The fact that over 70,000. lineal feet, or more than thirteen miles; of. modern reinforced concrete' bridges had been constructed since 1936 gave some idea of the efforts made. The programme of reconstruction would again be put in hand as soon as the supply of manpower, materials, and plant would allow. In the.meantime the public could rest. assured that careful pexlodic inspections of old timber bridges were being made, and their maintenance was being, kept" up to as high a standard as possible.' Even the most careful inspections would :not always reveal some hidden' defect in an old timber bridge, and the public were earnestly, requested to observe load restrictions carefully.' r ARMY TRAFFIC. Heavy Army traffic had created some problems,- and many of the old bridges ihad had* to-be strengthened. The : drivers of-Army vehicles were particu- ! larly requested to comply strictly with load restrictions. • , It was noticed that according to newspaper reports some of the local bodies in the vicinity of the bridge, without waiting for,any. evidence, immediately attributed the collapse to lack at -maintenance; The chairman of one county referred to heavy Army I traffic and stated that, in his opinion, the span had just'slipped with the continuous weight, and the state of I the timber, and then collapsed. Such a statement was to say the least ill advised when the chairman must have known -that an investigation would be immediately made, and he had ho evidence whatever to support his statement. '