Ancient Bridge Mars Good Road

Sun (Auckland), Volume I, Issue 144, 8 September 1927, Page 15

Ancient Bridge Mars Good Road

DANGER AT THE WHAU RAMSHACKLE STRUCTURES Tuesday's accident at the Whau Creek Bridge is what experienced Auckland motorists have been expecting for a long time. The bridge is regarded as one of the worst danger spots in the Northern nigfiway system, and the fact that it is on a main arterial road, and within the precincts of a populous city, makes its condition the more regrettable.

When the concrete highway from Auckland to Henderson was planned a gap was left at the Whau, so that the existing bridge could be replaced by a higher and wider structure. To ailow for a longer bridge and avoid the necessity of lifting the concrete when the old bridge is dismantled, the paving to the present bridge was not completed. The approaches at present are of macadam and are badly graded. The stare of the approaches, with the awkward curve from the south, aggravate the existing conditions.

CONTROLLING THE TRAFFIC Conditions now are such that on Sundays, when there is a stream of traffic either way, gome form of control is found necessary. The Auckland Automobile Association has strenuously advocated improvement or replacement of some of the ancient bridges that at present mar the concrete highways, and the Whau Bridge is one of the worst of those that has come under its notice. “When it started work,” said an engineer this morning, “the Highways Board was hampered by lack of funds and was compelled to adopt a patchwork policy, but a road, like other lines of communication, is only as strong as its weakest link, and the highways will never be up to modern safety standards until some of the existing ramshackle bridges are replaced.”