AUCKLAND BRIDGE

Hokitika Guardian, 19 May 1930, Page 7

AUCKLAND BRIDGE

PROJECT DESCRIBED AS PREMATURE. WELLINGTON, May 15. Til© proposal that Auckland City should be eeuneoted with the subsurbs on the northern sll&re- of the Waiteniata by means of a harbour bridge is regarded by the expert inquiry commission as premature. The question came before Parliament last session and the Government undertook to have it investigated by a commission. The report of this body has now been received by the Minister of Public Works (the Hon E. A. Ransom.) The commission does not favour the construction of the bridge. “After careful consideration of all the evidence, and after investigations made in the district” says the report, “the commissioners are of opinion that the time for the erection of a bridge across the Waitemata Harbour will not arrive in less than twenty years, though it might be advisable in, say, ten years to have the position reviewed again.” Though the report is positively negative, the engineering experts of the commission have devoted a considerable amount of attention to the various schemes, and ; subject to the recommendation already quoted, they recommend a .site (from among five suggested,) which would run from a point above the present Auckland wharves direct to the suburb of Northcoto, and be connected with Devonport by a combined causeway and bridges across the shallow water. The cost of this scheme is set down at £1,956,000. The bridge would need to have a clear height above high wa + er mark of 135 feet. One of the spans would have to be of the cantilever type, with a clear spall of 800 feet, to enable shipping to pass the bridge. The structure would be on concrete piers and piles, and have steel spans and concrete decking. Tne report discusses in detail the financial provision which would need to be made for the scheme, and shows that, while greater benefit would accrue to undeveloped lands in the northern marine suburbs, the burden would fall more heavily on Auckland City contributors. The commission considers that the present harbour ferry services are adequate and extremely cheap.