A LENGTHY JOB

Otago Daily Times, Issue 23689, 22 December 1938, Page 8

A LENGTHY JOB

SAWYERS' BAY TUNNEL TO BE FINISHED IN 1940 TWO NEW RAILWAY BRIDGES There are 113 men at present engaged on the deviation at Sawyers' Bay and work has been started on the portals at each end of the 16 chain tunnel. Discussing the position with a Daily Times reporter yesterday. Mr G. H. Mackley, general manager of railways, said that the actual driving of the tunnel would be commenced early in the New Year and be completed by the end of 1939. The whole job it was hoped to have completed in 1940. Another undertaking by the deDartment of local interest which was mentioned by Mr Mackley was the grade easement on the north side of Clarendon, six miles north of Milton, where 45 men were at present engaged. When this work was completed it would facilitate train operations between Dunedin and Milton. As soon as the job was finished the men would be placed on the south side of Clarendon, where similar work was to be undertaken.

At Bushey, north of Palmerston, 63 men were engaged on a grade and kerb easement job. this being one of a number of jobs north of Palmerston embodied in the ultimate scheme of grade easement in that territory. The department also had eight fencing gangs in the Dunedin district effecting repairs to fences adjoining railway lines. These gangs were .comprised of four men in each.- »

Work at Oamaru

The erosion at the Oamaru foreshore had caused the department and the Oamaru Borough Council a great deal df concern, but Mr Mackley said that improvement work was now progressing satisfactorily. Innumerable concrete blocks, weighing 10 tons each, were being made and, together with heavy stone obtained from the department's auarries at Sawyers' Bay and Enfield, it was felt that formidable resistance to the battering which that part of the coastline was subjected to would be presented. . Waitaki Bridge Like many other of the older bridges in the country that which spans the Waitaki River is now nearing the end of its life, and thus it will need to be reconstructed. Soon it will be replaced, Mr Mackley said, by a concrete and steel bridge similar in design to 'many others that have been completed. The length of the Waitaki Bridge is 1267 yards, and prior to the calling of tenders for the construction of the foundations, test piles were driven into the ground. The new bridge is to be built on the downstream side of the existing bridge. The cylinders at present are approximately 42 feet 6 inches below the rail level, and it is hoped that a satisfactory bearing can be obtained on the new site with piles varying from 37 feet to 42 feet below the rail line. Bridge at Rakaia

i Mr Mackley said that he was very pleased to note the excellent progress made by the contractor for the construction of the .foundations of the Rakaia Bridge, which at present served the purpose for both railway and road transport. : The new bridge to be erected would be exclusively a railway bridge, the Main Highways Board providing its. own on the lower side of the present one. Both 'the new railway and road bridges over the Rakaia were to be of the latest design, and when completed would remove a great disability at present experienced by motorists in having"to use the existing bridge in conjunction with railway traffic."- At this time of the year when there was an increased volume of traffic many motorists were held up for some time at this part of their journey.