ROADING PROBLEMS

Putaruru Press, Volume XX, Issue 1209, 21 November 1946, Page 6

ROADING PROBLEMS

BRIDGES OVERLOOKED Point Which Affects Dominion An important and interesting " comment on a phase of roading , a .problems was made by Mr. M. E. i Fitzgerald, engineer to the Matamata County Council, at the November meeting of that body. The comment was made following a request for improvements to a bridge on Muirhead’s Koafi, Whitehall, by Cr. C. Bruce. Cr- Bruce stated that a former airman, who had had distinguished service, had taken over a property of 418 acres, which he was developing well. However, he had to cart his produce and manure 16 miles and at the end could take only 13cwt over the wooden bridge. As a result he had now to do his carting on a roundabout route and through a neighbour’s property. The settler was a great worker and he asked that the bridge be attended to. In his comment the engineer stated that owing to subdivision what was a little-used back entrance was now the front entrance to the airman’s farmThe problem of the bridge was a national one, and he could endorse Cr. Bruce’s comment. Twenty years ago or more saw the commencement of heavy motor traffic, and it became essential to relate the weight of a lorry to a road just as a railway engine was related to a railway line. A formula was evolved, and the first set of regulations was issued placing any lorry over two tons in the heavy class and making five classes of roads. The country settled down to those classes, and then came the importation of twin tyres, which were easier on the roads, and extra axles, upon which the heavy load was distributed. The result was that the classification of roads was raised and the formula , was altered to axle weight instead of lorry load. That was eminently fair to the road, but they forgot all about the bridges. Under the raised classification these wooden bridges immediately became a problem throughout New Zealand, throughout the Matamata county, and especially in the Whitehall area, where it was made worse by the fact that the bigger lorries were in general use there. In his opinion, as there was another wooden bridge on the same road, and also abutments on the bridge under discussion, he should report specially on Cr. Bruce’s request after going over the road. This suggestion was approved, and the engineer was given power to act if the alterations could be carried out at no great expense. The road in question is in class 4, which permits of four tons on each axle of a two-axle vehicle, and 34 tons per axle on multi-axle vehicles, hut the wooden bridge on it is limited to a 13cwt load.