RAUTOKI BRIDGE

Bay of Plenty Beacon, Volume 4, Issue 174, 31 October 1941, Page 5

RAUTOKI BRIDGE

QUESTION OF RESPONSIBILITY

FAULTY WORKMANSHIP ALLEGED

For some time the Whakatane County Council and the Public Works Department have been at a deadlock regarding the' Whar* katane River bridge at Ruatoki. The Department, having comr p'leted the work, asked the Council to take over the structure, the Council refusing to do this, alleging that the construction of the briefge was faulty and iit did not feel that it should take responsibility for work which might incur considerable expense.

The county engineer had furnished a report to the Department stating that the workmanship on the bridge had been faulty and now the Department had had an inspection made with the result that at Tuesday's meeting the . following letter was received.

"In reply to your letter my Inspecting Engineer and the District Engineer, Tauranga, met the chairman and members of your Council at the bridge, site on September 12. It is reported that the concrete in the deck slab on the eastern end has in places worn down to the reinforcing steel exposing the steel, and In one or two spots about half an Inch below the steel. On the other spans the wear was not so excessive, and evidently there had been a bad batch of concrete in the deck slab of the eastern span.

There was also some wear on tho centre due to the iron shod hoofs of horses. The wear is chiefly due to the iron tyred vehicles. As a further factor,-although the bridge had recently been cleaned, a considerable amount of animal manure had been lying on the surface for a long time, and this had contributed to the decay of the concrete by chemi, cal action, especially as the drain holes were blocked and the water has been u/nable to get away.

The eastern end span vibrates quite a lot under traffic, but no doubt the unevenness of the surfaco has a lot to do with this. Some hair cracks appear in the beams, but these were most likely formed by the hot sun during the curing, and it is not considered that these will cause any worry. The Raukokoe bridge, which is a structure of similar design, used chiefly by rubber tyred vehicles, shows no si£n of wear. The surface of the eastern span and any other bad places will have to be chipped and any weak concrete encountered removed. The deck can then be restored with Wilsonite concrete carefully screeded to grade and camber, and then sealed with premix using hard chips. Provided my department does this, will you please advise if your Council is prepared to accept responsibility for the maintenance of the bridge and approaches from the date of completion of sealing." A brief discussion followed the reading of the letter Crs C. T.

Smith and A. F. McGougan being of the opinion that the Council should take over the bridge. Cr Smith said the County had needed the structure and had been fortunate to obtain it, and in view of the report should acknowledge responsibility.

That unless the engineer advised the Council otherwise such a course should be adopted was the view of Cr YV". A. MlcCrackcn, who felt that if, by any chance, the structure developed a serious fault, then no doubt the Public Works Department would acknowledge its liability.

1 his suggestion was strongly opposed by Cr 11. G. McCready, who claimed that the Department had not been considering the settlers or ratepayers when the bridge was constructed. The view had been to benefit the Native Scheme so that the State could recover some of the enormous amount of money it had spent there—an amount it would never fully recover.

He continued that lie had no faith in Government guarantees, and pointed out that if the position was reversed tlie Department would never accept responsibility.

II was decided that the Council take over the bridge and keep it in good repair, but that it Avished the Department's assurance that if any fault of construction become apparent then it take responsibility, if necessary, to the extent of * 'constructing a new bridge.