NEW HIGHWAYS BRIDGE

Opotiki News, Volume I, Issue 54, 8 July 1938, Page 3

NEW HIGHWAYS BRIDGE

K AITER AT/ A HI STRUCTURE

TO BE FINISHED IN NOVEMBER

Cement is being run in the second pier out in the riverbed and two spans of girders have been ,rivetted and erected on' the new reinforced •concrete two-way bridge to span the Waipapa River at Kaiteratalii, The works foreman, ill* N. Shaw, expects that the structure will be “ completed ih November, but the bridge will not be available to the motoring, public until early in. the New Year as the concrete will have to- season and the approaches to consolidate. The >vill be a. big improvement bn the Opotiki-Gisborne main highway. 0

On the To Karaka side of the new bridge the abutment has been made and the work of reinforcing the piers also has been started from that end. There are 20 men in the gang and the workshop is being kept busy on the fabrication of the steelwork that is necessary to keep up with the progress of the other work. . A start also is being made with the driving of the temporary piles in the stream to provide a platform for the piledriver. There are still two piers to be driven in the streambed before the pile-driver can be laid aside on the job. .

Some snia:i setbacks have caused slight delay, but there has been nothing serious since the heavy flooding of the river. No chances are taken with the river and each night all tools and small gear are removed to the workshop in case of a fresh caused by heavy rain in the back country. The angle the bridge will take will eliminate the two present rightangled approaches to the bridge, and motorists can now visualise the direction of the new structure and its height from the riverbed by looking at the completed piers.