BRIDGE COLLAPSES.

Waikato Times, Volume 108, Issue 18165, 1 November 1930, Page 7

BRIDGE COLLAPSES.

SOONER THAN EXPECTED. MAEROA SHORT OF WATER. NEW CULVERT DAMAGED. After surviving an unstable condition for some months, the wooden bridge at Maeroa collapsed yesterday afternoon, the first, second and third piers at the western end coming down. As previously reported, the operation of tipping the spoil at the bridge was having a. very detrimental effect upon the foundations, rendering it liable to collapse, and the bridge has been closed to all traffic since October 10.

It became obvious about last Wednesday that the position was becoming very strained and fears were entertained for the safety of the water supply main feeding Maeroa which crosses the bridge. Consequently an immediate start was made on the laying of a new alternative feeder main to the Maeroa area by extending the Willoughby Street main to connect on to the Dudley Terrace main. It was anticipated that this work would have been completed by about Tuesday next, and that the bridge would last until then. Causes of Collapse. , The weight of the embankment on the swampy ground upon which the bridge foundations were based caused a land-slide, pushing the upper 6 feet of swamy country into the stream bed. The trouble was possibly accentuated by the heavy downpour yesterday afternoon; the storm water pipe from Maeroa Street fracturing . and dischai’ging water into the ground under the edge of the embankment; the water mains fracturing at the west end of the bridge and flooding the western abutment; and the trade effluent sewer breaking and undermining the third pier. All three pipes referred to were observed to be broken immediately atfer the collapse, but it is impossible to say whether from cause or effect. The bridge since the collapse has been suspended in a dangerous position, and immediate steps were taken to remove the concrete mixer and other plant that may have suffered by a complete collapse, and an age has been effected from the bridge to a tree on the down-stream side to prevent the structure from falling upstream and so damaging the new culvert. Immediate steps will be taken as-soon as possible to demolish it. Dislocation of Supply. The most serious effect of the collapse was the dislocation of the Maeroa water supply, and it was not until •’lO p.m. that a temporary service was able to be effected by means of a fire hose crossing the This does not give a very good pressure, and probably the water will only reach the higher levels by night or at certain periods. of the day, and these residents are advised to Cll vessels sufficient to carry them over the dry periods. Fortunately, the majority of the residents affected still have their roof water tanks to draw on.

The damage at the culvert appears to be confined to the fracture of the |-«t 12 feet of one wall just recently placed, the probable cost of replacement being £25, and the fracture of Ihe trade effluent sewer which at the worst may require - relaying for 200 feet at a cost of about £IOO.. Nothing that has occurred is likely detrimentally to affect the culvert from being completed within the estimate, as an allowance of £2‘oo was made for a possible happening of this nature.

If- is hoped to have the culvert completed before .Christmas, but the i w roadway will not be built up and r jr'oi'd for traffic until late next year. The old wooden bridge was built about 20 years ago.