COLLAPSE OF BRIDGE.

Manawatu Standard, Volume XLIX, Issue 229, 27 August 1929, Page 3

COLLAPSE OF BRIDGE.

DISASTER AT TUAKAU. ONE SPAN BROKEN. TUAKAU, Aug. 24. With one span broken and sagging, and others endangered by the increased strain, the Tuakau bridge, over the Waikato River, is in a precarious condition. The damaged span may collapse at any moment and drag down the adjacent spans with it. Five men, four carpenters and a foreman, Mr D. Callie, were working on the span when it started to collapse shortly after 2 p.m. yesterday. The men were on the overhead trusses, replacing old timbers with new. When one of the beams was lifted, its neighbour proved too w'eak to bear the double strain, and it broke away. The truss was cracking and breaking as the men dropped on to the deck of the bridge and ran for safety. One of the men left his coat hanging on the truss close to where it broke. “There’s £2 in the pocket of that coat, any anyone who gets it can have it, he said. The coat is still there. According to the men who were working on the span when it broke, it was fortunate that no traffic was crossing at the moment. Under the extra weight and vibration of a heavy lorry or a herd of cattle the span would have collapsed into the river and dragged the rest of the bridge with it. Everyone thought that by daybreak to-day the span would have gone down the river, but it is still hanging, though the cracking and groaning of the timbers suggest that it might go at any moment. Several pedestrians who crossed during the morning were startled by loud reports from the strained trusses as they passed the danger point. LINESMEN GET A FRIGHT. Five telegraph linesmen, carrying a pole on their shoulders, got a bad fright when crossing the bridge this morning. One of the beams cracked with such a loud report that the men dropped the pole and raced along to the nearest undamaged span. When the .cracking ceased they returned on tip-toe to pick up the burden again, and they were very careful not to walk in step, as they had done before. The broken span is one of five 110foot lengths that form the main part of the bridge. Between it and the southern shore there is a shorter span and an earth ramp. The strain on the adjacent spans must be very great, for the decking of the bridge has dropped 4ft on the up-stream side, and is twisted like a propeller blade. Knowing the danger, workmen were very chary of crossing the broken span, but some laymen were more reckless. One motorist who came along shortly after the bridge sagged was very indignant when he was not allowed to cross. A ferry service was later arranged to meet the demands of traffic.