FERRO-CONCRETE BRIDGES.

Timaru Herald, Volume XIIIC, Issue 14278, 19 August 1910, Page 4

FERRO-CONCRETE BRIDGES.

' '"" »<•'•-- v.-Jiicii li;is intended tha ' -!■'•:• i .cut ~] ihe (;,.j- : ,jdiiie and Levels C'.iiii;;, (.'.,;;::.ik. in breaking away from iii<- <.!.! s-.-L.-hi ~] bridging over shiugle--1 •-'-■- i'-v. :>: lii-.t. l,y confining them wukii moderate limits of length by ' ■iiii i .i-:l.n-_- nit; rivers to give- up their ::._-! n;iu kahit (which has proved suc- '"' "■'" :: ''; : :i1 '' ; :i;i-.'i ous case.M and now by ' reeling a bridge in a , nw , in< ] ; mr :: '' : ' : ' i;l _- everlasting materials, de--ui\ .-s tne .-...- ■..,'<-mj! congratulations of the pe<,p,o ~i ii),. Dominion, as %ve u a 5 <■: tii'- ratepayers of the two counties !iiii!!..-'.:ai.viy interested. Ii seemed raih.-r a bold v-nture when, in the first ca.-e. .Messrs .Meason and Marc-ham asC.'"' , T ''' a Xi ' L ' > - i;!: =' e rivers of South i'n.-'i within a fixed width of channel. J'e.'ijk. had been .so accustomed to sea tii.n: <i:>rc--ard the obstructions and liiii!i:.tioiH of natural banks, that; the idea :.< i oniming them by means of ar-uti'-ial ones sc-c-mt-d chimerical. The eii-_:.i:eers. However, set forces of nature to mir.l.-t force? of nature-, and seleetiiiL- persistent forces showed how the intermit tent ones were to be overpowered. Their system of artificial banks, shielded from scour by a natural growth of willows, artificially directed, has proved a great success wherever it has been applied. It is iraaginanie that it- would not succeed everywhere in the case of all rivers—and we are sure they would not claim that !t ivoiiMl «o so. It is sufficient for South anterbury, that it succeeds in South Canterbury rivers. The fixing o! T.he streams made it possible to venture upon a new system of bridge building, and the erection of a bridge hi fer-ro-coii'-reie over the Opihi may be expected to be but the first of many of the kind that will follow where the cir-

cumstances are at ill similar. Already, in laet. the example 15 being followed by tiic- erection of a bridge of this material over the Ashley river, which is, ■we believe, a stream not much unlike the Opihi in its character. Mr F. AY. Marc-ham. for the idea of applying ferro concrete to the construction of bridges over the shingle-drifting Opihi is his. deserve; the thanks of the Dominion for showing; so valuable nn example, and still more for the idea of the artificial '• tnn-aces '" which have been so successful in this district, and have copied elsewhere.