BRIDGING THE WAITAKI.

Westport Times, Volume IV, Issue 666, 2 June 1870, Page 2

BRIDGING THE WAITAKI.

The report of the Otago Engineer of Roads and Works on the merits of the proposed sites of the Waitaki bridge, has been published.. He recommends the adoption of the lower one—the one where the main road, through block 8, Popakaia district, meets the river—as being cheaper, more direct, and equally safe with the upper one. Mr Barr does not consider the work at either place one of any great difficulty, as the depth of water, even in the highest flood, is very inconsiderable when compared with such rivers as the Molyneux and the Taieri, but the length of the bridge is the greatest evil to be encountered, and is of eourse, the cause of the great cost It will be necessary to incur in the work, but no more, it is believed, than the Provinces of Otago and Canterbury can afford for a work ensuring so much facility for communication and safety to travellers. Several schemes are set forth by Mr Barr, and he considers that if their merits are viewed from an engineering point alone, there could be no hesitation in pronouncing for an iron structure, with a roadway 24 feet wide at the lower site, at a cost of £42,834; but, "bearing in mind that a new country, with its lines of communication in course of development, must of necessity choose what is sufficient for present requirements, even though there may be slight inconveniences at intervals still to be borne," he recommends the scheme of bridging the present channels at the lower site, letting the traffic go along the intermediate islands, which it could do with safety on all occasions except two or three days per annum, and of planting the islands with willow or bent, so as to secure them against all danger of being disturbed by floods. Such a work if carried out of iron, and of 14 feet breadth of roadway, would cost £27,075. Iron is recommended in preference to timber, though its present cost would be £5112 greater, principally because if the traffic ever came to increase so much as to require a wider bridge, the structure even twenty years after this would be so valuable as to be worth the additional cost of widening. If this sum is considered too great for the present capabilities of the Province, a timber bridge with a roadway 14 feet wide, to be constructed at once at a cost of £21,963 is recommended. In the above estimates Mr Barr has calculated upon the Government getting the ironwork in Britain, and contracting for the timber and erection." It is further recommended that the piers of the proposed bridge be built of stone, as the difficulty of constructing the foundation would be very great and of proportionate expense.