THAT WHAU BRIDGE

Sun (Auckland), Volume II, Issue 614, 16 March 1929, Page 13

THAT WHAU BRIDGE

TOWN BOARD IMPATIENT MINISTER’S AID ENLISTED Complaints against departmental delay in finalising the preparations of the new Whau Bridge were brought before the Hon. E. A. Ransom, Minister of Public Works, by the New Lynn Town Board this morning. Air. H. G. R. Mason, M.P., said the present bridge was old and unsafe. He had been asked to expedite a decision in December last, but nothing had been finalised yet. The Highways Board had said it was awaiting the consent of the Marine Department, but the latter repudiated the idea of being the cause of the delay. The Marine Department had been interested because of the suggested need for a lifting span, arising out of the possibility of the Whau being transformed into a canal. This was merely a wild idea, and such a change would involve also the railway bridge, and mean the holding up of a heavy flow of traffic. Air. L. B. Campbell, Public Works engineer, interposed that the Highways Board was concerned about the suitability of a cheaper structure than the proposed arch bridge. Air, W. L. Titcliener, chairman of the town board, pointed out that the idea of a canal was absurd, because of the difficulties previously mentioned, and because the whole of Auckland’s water supply passed over the Whau. A lifting span certainly could not be put in the pipeline. He appealed for the allowing of a bridge that would be a credit to the district, and contended that such a one would be worth the extra expenditure. Mr. W. A. Grey, engineer to the town board, said he was fairly sure that the maintenance on a girder bridge would bring the total cost up to that of a concrete arch bridge, on which the maintenance would be comparatively nil. The Minister promised to investigate the position.