NEW BRIDGE AT KOPU.

Hauraki Plains Gazette, Volume XXXIX, Issue 5273, 11 May 1928, Page 2

NEW BRIDGE AT KOPU.

OFFICIAL OPENING TO-DAY.

CEREMONY BY PRIME MINISTER.

The new bridge across the Waihou

River at Kopu which connects the

Thames and Hauraki Plains counties

was formally opened; to traffic by the

Prime Minister, the lit. Hon. J. G.

Coates, at 11 o’clock this: morning.

Thci opening function, which was held on the Kopu approach to[ the bridge, was largely attended, the official party comprising the Prime Minister. and Mrs Coates, the Minister of Public Works (Hon. K. S. Williams). Mr A. M. Samuel, M. P.. Mr T'. W. Rhodes, M.P., the Mayor (Mr W. Bongard) and councillors of Thames, and the chairmen ami members of adjacent county councils and representatives df other institutions in Hie dis trict.

Introductory speeches weie made by the Prime Minister and the Hon. K. S. Williams, who were introduced by Mr, H. Lowe, chairman of the Thames County Council. The saving span; was then operated and the ribbon, which was 'held by Mesdames E. L. Walton, W. Bongard, and H. Lowe, was cut by Mrs Coates, and the Prime Minister declared the bridge open. The official, ears, led by the Prime Minilste”’s car. then travelled aci'Ojss the bridge. The opening ceremony was uiVfortunatdly curtailed owing to heavy rain. s DESCRIPTION OF BRIDGE. The gruss, cost of the structure, including tlie approaches, was £52.000,' allocated as follows : Thames Borough Council, £12,000; Hauraki Plains County Council. £12,000 ; Thames County Council. £6OOO ; and the Main Highways Board, £22,000. The construction adopted for the bridge is concrete piers resting on clusters, of concrete piles driven into the Waihou riverbed. The piers are spanned by steel girders surmounted by a reinforced concrete bed, which is covered with a wearing carpet of bituminous paving. Provision is made for the passage of river traffic by a steel swing span, electrically operated and turning on. a concrete pie.r which is 20ft in diameter. The detailed' dimensions are: Length, 1524 f t; number of spans, 25 ; length of ifjpans, 60ft; width of roadway, (12ft, with five passing spans each 19!ft wide ; thickness of deck, 7Vs inches ; length of swing span, 140 ft ; length of road approaches, 83 chains; approximate length of time to construct, ’ two years; gross weight of bridge, 3350 tons ; gross cost of structure and approaches, £52,000.

As some Indication, of, the size of the undertaking, the following details o$ materials put into the bridge arc interesting : There are 15,000 ft of piles under the piers.-, an<] 3700 ft of piles in the fairway ; 620 ft of sft diameter cylinders, and 1100 cubic yards of con - crete ; 400 tons of girders, 96 tons of reinforcement. 550 tons of cement 1800 cubic yards of shingle, amd 21 tons of miscellaneous, ironwork; 60,000 superficial feet of timber and 21.00 square yards of bituminous paving ; 1000 cubic yard s of ro;k spawls, 21,000 cubic yards of filling and 1870 cubic yards of crushed metal in tlie approaches ; and 1000 gallons of paintIt will be of interest to local readers to know that all the piles for the structure were made by the- Public Works Department at its Puke depot, Paeroa, the first batch 'of piles being turned out in February. 1926.