Making Mange re Traffic Bridge Safe

Sun (Auckland), Volume I, Issue 229, 16 December 1927, Page 9

Making Mange re Traffic Bridge Safe

LOCAL BODIES CONFER £SBO TO BE SPENT The Mangere Bridge, »the state of which has been causing contributing authorities some concern, is to receive immediate attention, and £SBO will be spent in effecting repairs that are considered to be necessary for the safety of the structure. The decision to spend this money was made at a conference of representatives of the Auckland City Council, the Onehunga Borough Council and the Manukau County Council, which was held at Onehunga this morning, and which was presided over by the Mayor of Onehunga, Mr. W. C. Coldicut. The chairman recommended that the bridge should be thoroughly repaired and a complete job made of it instead of continuing a policy of patchwork. The engineer to the Manukau County Council, Mr. J. H. Page, reported that the concrete work was disintegrating gradually, and £967 would be required to attend to the most urgent work of repair. If this work were gone on with the engineers could secure an idea of what other repairs were required, as it was impossible at present to estimate th© total cost. He recommended immediate permanent reconstruction of the sea walls, abutments and the coating of the deck with bitumen. It was the opinion of Mr. W. E. Bush, engineer to the Auckland City Council, that the structural part of the bridge should receive immediate attention, and he was inclined to think that more serious faults might be.disclosed in the process. The Government engineers, he said, had never been satisfied with the bridge, although they had passed it when completed. The Auckland City Council would meet any claim for the maintenance and safety of the structure. Mr. S. W. House looked into the future when a causeway across the Manukau would take the place of the present bridge, and meet the inevitable demand of the huge population which he said would eventually inhabit Mangere. By doing the job gradually, much money could be saved. The members of the conference inspected the bridge and decided to spend £SBO, further expenditure to be considered when more complete investigations have been made by the engineer for the Manukau County Council.

The work, which is to start at once, will be supervised by the Manukau County Council.