NEW ORAKEI BRIDGE.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXVII, Issue 20630, 31 July 1930, Page 12

NEW ORAKEI BRIDGE.

DELAY IN COMPLETION. SAFER FOUNDATION SOUGHT. IMPROVED ROUTE TO SUBURB. Owing to difficulties in obtaining a satisfactory foundation which were not. foreseen when tho work was commenced, the completion of the new concrete bridge over the Pnrewa Cieok, which links Hobson Ray and the Orakei Basin, has been delayed for some months. It was originally expected that the structure would be finished at. this date, but it is now thought, likely that it. will be finished by (ho end of December

The delav has been due to tho fact that the piles carrying tho structure have had !o bo extended for 20tt The vdsolo basin, which is of volcanic origin, is believed to have been thrown out in one eruption, and the site of the bridge is on onf lip of the old crater When the work on the bridge was started a great deal of investigation was necessary, and this resulted in a decision to extend the foundations into more solid strata, making a difference in tho length of the piles of 20;t. The piles are now 80ft. long, extensions having been built on them, and weigh 12?, tons each. The new bridge, which is to be entirely of reinforced concrete, will bo of six spans, requiring 57 piles, of which 34 have been driven. Tho total width will be 46ft., which will permit of footpaths in addition to a wido carriageway. The old structure which it is replacing is only a single-car bridge.

The new bridge is to bo a link in a greatly-improved route to Orakei. The City Council i? at present forming a new road from the foot of Orakei Road to the railway bridge on lop of the ridge. One portion, a short link at the junction of Shore, Orakei and Upland Roads, is at present in use, and the formation work on the road up (he ridge, which has been carried out by the Public Works Department, has beer, completed. The surfacing, which is in the hands of the City Council, has been carried out for nearly threequarters of the length, and this new stretch should be in use very shortly. After the road crosses the railway bridge it will go on to the new bridge by approaches which have yet to be formed and leave the bridge on the Orakei side by a hotter gradient than the present road from the old bridge. The steep declivity and rise at the old bridge will be avoided, as will the existing cntt'.ngs, which present some difficulty to motorists entering a ono--ar bridge. Thus a direct route from the foot of Orakei Road to the garden subuib, with a better line and easier grades wil 1 bo provided. The new bridge will also carry a feeder water main to link up witi the Orakei and St. ITcliers reticulation, and provide a greater pressure foi fire-fighting when the new Tamaki fire station in Long Drivo is brought into use.