RUATOKI RIVER BRIDGE

Bay of Plenty Beacon, Volume 7, Issue 31, 7 December 1943, Page 5

RUATOKI RIVER BRIDGE

LOADING ONLY 4 TONS

SURPRISE FOR COUNCIL

Verification by the Minister of "Public Works that the Kuatoki River bridge was only designed and built to carry a loading weight of -six tons has caused the Whakatane -County Council considerable chagrin, particularly 'in view of the fact -that the stipulated strength, by the •same Department, of. other bridges throughout the county is not le.ss than 16 tons.

The Ruatoki structure was built »l>y the Government to meet district •needs and was handed over to the County as an apparently modern bridge fully in accordance with the •standardised regulations. Now that the bridge after a few yours use is showing signs of wear the Countj ■Counc'il has proceeded to make enquiries as. to tire reason. The latest information was conveyed by the chairman at the last meeting of the •council when he said that iir view of the discovery the council could •do little more than erect a notice warning people, that they used it at -their own risk.

"This is a disgusting state of affairs," saitl Cr McCready. "Here we have an instance of thousands ol pounds: being spent on a public utility which is not even up to ordinary requirements. The way the handed it over to the council amounts to nothing less ■than a confidence trick." /The chairman added that if anything happened during the next live .years the Government was prepared to take all responsibility. Cr McCready: You know Avliat Government promises are worth. Cr McGougan: None of the council when the.bridge was first taken over thought that it was such u shoddy affair as it has now turned out to be. I myself agreed to take it over because I. considered it a great asset to the district, but if the Government is going to go on building these sort of things it ought to be stopped.

Cr McCready: We had the Tc Toko instance to go by as a precedent. Nobody objects to these things till they find they've got a white elephant on their hands.

The council decided that, in view of. the Minister's statement to the County Chairman when he was recently in Wellington, that the new Kuatoki bridge had been built for a maximum 6 ton loading, that, the Minister be asked what traffic and Stock restrictions should be imposed on the use of such bridge.