TUAKAU BRIDGE PLANS

Sun (Auckland), Volume IV, Issue 985, 30 May 1930, Page 6

TUAKAU BRIDGE PLANS

NEW STRUCTURE TO COST £24,000 SEVEN SPANS IN DESIGN The cost for the neiv reinforced concrete bridge over the Waikato River at Tuakau is estimated to be £24,000. The structure will be the first reinforced concrete bowstring girder type of bridge in New Zealand. _ It will have a* two-way traffic capacity. There will be six spans of 110 ft each, of bowstring girder design, and a beam span of 35ft, built on conCrete foundations, in the 700 feet ot the bridge. . , , The plans for the bridge, which has been designed by Messrs. Jones and Adams, Auckland, have been submitted for approval to the Public Works Department. ' The Raglan County Council has already given its approval. The existing wooden bridge was opened 27 years ago. Last August, a span 100 ft long began to collapse and a ferry service had to be arranged. The bridge was made ready for traffic again in three- weeks. The Tuakau bridge provides communication for settlers on the south side of the Waikato River, in the Port Waikato, Onewhero and Pukekawa ridings of Raglan County. The new bridge will be higher than the present one at the western abutment, to allow easier approach, and the deck will be graded slightly toward the eastern bank, to. give greater vertical clearance for vessels on the navigation channel. Apart from the steel reinforcements, all the materials will be obtained in New Zealand.