LINCOLN ROAD BRIDGE DESCRIBED AS DEATH-TRAP.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 18623, 27 November 1928, Page 4

LINCOLN ROAD BRIDGE DESCRIBED AS DEATH-TRAP.

NO ROOM FOR VEHICLES BETWEEN PARAPET AND RAILS, SAYS MR HAYWARD.

“ Now that the tram line has been shifted there is not room for vehicles between the rails and the parapet of the Hoon Hay bridge. It is a veritable death-trap,” declared Mr W. Hayward at the meeting of the Tramway Board yesterday afternoon. “If a motor-car was caught between a tram and the bridge parapet there would be a serious accident."’

The matter arose through the Halswell County Council advising by letter that, as a result of the recent action of the board in removing the tram track to the centre of Lincoln Road, the clearance on the south-east side of the Heathcote River bridge between rail and parapet had been reduced from 15ft to 9ft 6in. The crossing was thus made very dangerous, and an extension of the bridge was an urgent necessity. The Main Highways Board had agreed to contribute a subsidy of £2 for £1 on the total cost, estimated at £3OO. Would the Tramway Board be prepared to bear one-third of the local authoritv’s cost, which was estimated to be £100?

Other members of the board spoke of the potential danger of the position, and one member expressed surprise at what he termed the smallness of the council’s request to the board. The matter was referred to the Works and Traffic Committee.