BRIDGING THE GULLY.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XLIV, Issue 13601, 21 November 1907, Page 6

BRIDGING THE GULLY.

J THE ■■ GRAFTON WORKS : IN;" ' | ' PROGRESS. 1 PREPARING THE FOUNDATIONS. The Cemetery Gully is at, present a hive of activity along"tho line'■:the 'Grafton; bridge, is to take. .When the Symonds-street cemetery was first mapped out it was considered quite out of the town, and no ono seems then to have realised the possibility of the' cemetery ever interfering with the city's progress. The Ferro* concrete Company has lost no time in getting to ■ work and in starting the . operations on an extensive scale, so that very, considerable progress'has been made within the.last two months. At the timo of the commencement of the works : articles were published in these columns givI ing full descriptions of the bridge. There ; is to bo a great : central, span of 320 ft, approached from the Symonds-street side by two spans of 35ft each, and four spans of 70ft.each, and from the Grafton side by two spans of 75ft each, the total length of the bridge being 910 ft. The height above the bottom of the gully will bo 140 ft, or just a littlo less than the top of St. Matthew's Church tower. '.-•■, On' the Grafton side largo tables for receiving the sand: and shingle, etc., have been' erected, and they are provided with chutes reaching up to banks in Bridgestreet, where vehicles will tip the material. Terraces cut out of the hillside near Ligar Place mark where the deck of the bridge' will begin ■to come to earth again, after extending out from Symonds-street, and deep .pits show where the excavations have been mad© for the piers. : There has been quite a quarry 'carved out on the. lower slopo on the cemetery side, the spoil being conveyed ont of the road by a small tram- : way! This excavation' is for one end, or " thrust," of the. big central span, and the ! place where the other will rest is marked by a deep pit on the. Grafton side ~_ From these excavations will riso the massive and stately piers' supporting the main arch, and fortunately a- splendid-foundation has been met with on each side. ' The works at end of the big span will he" interest"ing, .as tho supporting portion'of tho structure- "will extend for 7ft on either side of tho line of the bridge. On the Symonds-street side, again,; a tramway is in course of erection, running from tho street level down to the excavation for the thrust of the main span, the tramway, being, for the conveyance of material along'the lino.of' works on that side of the gully. The excavation woitk-'is proceeding rapidly, the, sinking of- the shafts for all the piers going on simultaneously, and thcro is, foundation to be provided for the temporary works' which will support portions of the structure .the junction is effected with tho main span. This : span itself will require extensive supporting work till it is-joined up. • ■: Tho actual construction work has already commenced, and the metal rods, now . familiar ~to , those who have observed the ! ferro-concrete wharf building operations, may be seen standing up at.the approach portion of tho Symonds-street side of the, bridge. The retaining wall at that side has been commenced, and it is to extend beyond the 3dft width of tho bridge to form a stairway on either side from the deck level down into the cemetery, and, curving back, it will form a: handsome entrance. i The shafts where the first set of- piers will staud have been sunk for 60ft, the Inst 20ft being in solid sandstone, but further down 1 the slopes the sandstone : is nearer the surface, so that the other shafts will not be required ,to attain great a depth. ; Only six graves » had to bo disturbed by the works, these beiug just whore ono set of piers is to stand, the bodies were, -exhumed, - and were 1 reinterreci at Waikumete. ':•",■: , At the present, rate ,of progress them is every reasomto believe that the bridge will •be completed .well within the contract time of two years. , No less than 1400 tons of cement alone will be required for the concrete. . •