RAKAIA BRIDGE

Otago Daily Times, Issue 24422, 7 October 1940, Page 9

RAKAIA BRIDGE

OLD STRUCTURE DEMOLISHED MUCH VALUABLE MATERIAL WOOD IN GOOD CONDITION (Special ro Daily Times) CHRISTCHURCH, Oct. 6. “The work of dismantling the disused rail-and-road bridge over the Rakaia River in Canterbury,” said the Minister of Railways, Mr D. G. Sullivan. to-day, “ reveals ■ a remarkable state of preservation of much of the timber used in its construction between 60 and 70 years ago. After this entirely wooden bridge had been replaced in recent months by two modern steel and concrete structures —one for main highwav purposes—the Railways Department proceeded with its own staff to salvage everything of value in the old 5,927-feet long bridge, and the results so far have fully justified the enterprise. The dismantling process is now about halfway completed, and the department has already reclaimed quantities of valuable hardwood —kauri and totara —so well preserved that they are now being utilised in various maintenance works and also on sundry undertakings at the railway workshops. “ The material which will be finally reclaimed—and some of it is not obtainable in the open market to-day—-is likely to be considerable. “That the original Rakaia railway bridge was not discarded prematurely,” the Minister concluded, “ was amply demonstrated when, during a recent flood, the river rose above the decking of the old bridge, the abnormal pressure and scour weakening the understructure to such an extent that, had the bridge been in regular use. the South Island main line traffic between Christchurch and Dunedin would have been seriously disrupted. The possibility of such a happening was one of the factors which influenced the Government in 1936 to provide new bridges in the Rakaia district and to construct a railway bridge so that its deck level would be six feet higher than that of the original structure."