MANAWATU GORGE

Hokitika Guardian, 3 July 1931, Page 5

MANAWATU GORGE

NEW BRIDGE NEARLY READY

COST NEARLY £23,000

PALMERSTON NORTH, June .SO. Commenced in April of last- year at an estimated cost of £23,000, the new ferro-concrete bridge at tile Woodville end of the Manawntu Gorge built to replace the present wooden structure which has served the district’s needs for the past- fifty-seven years, is now practically completed, and will be opened for traffic during next month. The bridge is seventy feet high, has the appearance of a viaduct, and isupported by four arches and five piers. The bridge is four hundred feet long and is twenty feet in width between the wing guards. The arches are those of a true semi-circle with a radius of 40 feet, and were shaped by a special steel frame which greatly expedited the work, increased its efficiency and appearance, and greatly lessened the costs of construction.

During the early stages of the actual construction work, many difficulties were met with and overcome by the twenty men who have been constantly employed on the task. The rapid fluctuations of the river level were responsible for most of this trouble, and on one occasion staging and a small crane were swept away by a high flood. The bridge is built on solid rock, the foundations being fifty feet below the normal water level of the river. The concrete work absorbed 3000 cubic yards of concrete, the metal being obtained from the river, and tons of reinforcing steel. The structure has something like 4200 ton s of concrete in it, while the three central piers have over 400 tons of concrete in them.