UTIKU SUSPENSION BRIDGE.

Rangitikei Advocate and Manawatu Argus, Volume XXXIX, Issue 11105, 21 November 1914, Page 8

UTIKU SUSPENSION BRIDGE.

The completion of the Utiku suspension bridge over the Hautapu stream, near the township of Utiku, will materillay benefit the settlers of that district. It is a very strong structure, and has been constructed by the Rangitikei County Council at a cost of about £BOOO, The plans were drawn up by the engineer, Mr B. Mair, and the work carried out under the supervision of Mr J. G. Garrett. The Council is subsidised by Messrs A. TV Gibbs and Co., sawmillers, who are opening a new mill aoont two miles inland, to where a line is already laid and where they are now busy erecting the mill. The bridge is all built of heart of totara, the towers being 18 inches square and 80 feet'in length, the struts being 34 x 13in, with a 12ft. splay, the towers resting on solid concrete foundations Oft below the surface. The cables are anchored to concrete blocks set in Bft of solid papa rook. There are 16 linch cables with a 86 ton breaking strength in each cable. The lengthof the bridge is 388 ft., with a roadway of 18ft and the height of the bridge from the water' level to the decking is 320 ft. It has taken 48,000 feet of timber to construct it, but the work is in every way a credit to the Rangitikei County Council, and is much appreciated by the Utiku residents. Not only does the bridge give an entry to the .back country, but being built on the almost perpendicular banks of the stream, _it forms quite a picturesque scene, with the native bush and ferns in abundance on the river bed.