NEW BULLS BRIDGE TO BE OPENED WITHIN NEXT FOUR WEEKS

Wanganui Chronicle, 16 February 1949, Page 4

NEW BULLS BRIDGE TO BE OPENED WITHIN NEXT FOUR WEEKS

The opening or the new Cerroconcrete bridge across the Rangitikei River at Bulls will be performed by the Minister of Works (Mr. Semple) within the next four weeks.

The actual ceremony will be arranged by the Automobile Associations Wanganui and Manawatu jointly qnd they will decide what form it will take.

The bridge was to have been opened temporarily during the Christmas and New Year holidays, but the concrete in the road surface was too green at one end of the bridge with the result that the structure was t%>t used.

The new bridge will be the third structure to span the Rangitikei River. The first structure was built in 1873 about 10 chains downstream from the present bridge. It was of lattice girder construction and consisted of six timber spans on timber pile piers. It was washed away by a higli flood in 1897 with the spans of other bridges across the Rangitikei River.

The second bridge, the present structure, was built in 1904 and it is 1514 feet in length. It has one 16 loot, three 20 foot and 12 120 foot spans and its width is 13ft. lin, between the guard rails compared with 24 feet on the new bridge, which has two 66 foot and 17 88 foot steel girder cantilever spans. The new bridge, which is 1628 feet in length, carries a 4-foot footway and pedestrian refuges and provision has been made to carry telegraph and telephone lines on reinforced concrete poles. The opening of the new bridge will be welcomed by motorists as the present structure is for one-way traffic which often occasions lengthy hold-ups.