A Dangeous Bridge.

Manawatu Standard, Volume 3, Issue 71, 16 February 1883, Page 2

A Dangeous Bridge.

[Correspondent Auckland Herald.] - The first ; thought suggested! to the mind on viewing thlfnew railway bridge,, or>r the -'Waikat'o^ ri? er, at Hamilton,' is the possibility of a second l Tay Bridge disaster, occurring. The river appears ,tq be about 400 ' feet wide, and /the bridge is sapportod by a concrete pier on each bank, and two sets of piers m the river,. These piers r coDßißt of two cy'iinders ! ih each set, said to be 9 'ieet in' diameter* They are sunk about 100 feet below the bed of the river ; the water is 30 feet deep, and they rise seventy feet above it, being 200 feet m v all. Now,. supposing these piers are ' not resting on perfectly flat rook, and that the continual vibration produced by loaded trucks passing over, the action of the stream and wind, causes them to settle say ha!f-an-inch on one side, they will be thrown off the perpendicular about 8 .feet 4 inches, or nearly aufißuent to make them fall with their own weight. But add to this the fact, that trucks carrying from 200 to 300 tons may be passing over daring a gale, when the whole weight will be thrown* on one side, and it can easily be seen that the weight. being 100 feet- from the fulcrum, the j leverage must be enormous. -