NEW SCENIC ROUTE

Sun (Auckland), Volume III, Issue 670, 23 May 1929, Page 11

NEW SCENIC ROUTE

OPOTIKI TO CAPE RUNAWAY BRIDGE ACROSS MOTU (Special to THE SUN) OPOTIKI, Wednesday. A ROADWAY is being steadily built along the East Coast from Opotiki to Cape Runaway. Most of the work has been done by the Opotiki County Council, but recently much work has been undertaken by the Public Works Department, which has had a considerable number of relief workers engaged for some time. All the gaps in the road are now being completed and the time is not far distant when the road, which will be the main highway, will be completed. Many streams fall from the mountainous back country and a great deal of bridging has to De undertaken. As the completion of the work will be a national undertaking, the bridges will have to be built by the Government. The biggest obstacle is the bridging of the dangerous Motu River. This work has been in hand for some time and will be completed at an early date. The bridge is being built by Mr. E. G. Brookes, the builder of the handsome 1,200 ft. concrete bridge spanning the Waioeka River at Opotiki. BRIDGE ON SOLID ROCK The Motu bridge will consist of four truss spans of 112 ft and one of 32ft. The cylinders Which will carry the piers have been sunk some 70ft through shingle to the solid rock. The cylinders are of reinforced concrete, 6ft in diameter. They have been put down 2ft in solid rock and carried up above low-water mark. After being sunk the cylinders were filled in with concrete. On top of the cylinders substantial reinforced concrete piers have been built. The superstructure is being constructed of Australian hardwood. Practically all materials for the bridge have been taken by boat*to the mouth of the river and then hauled by tractor to the bridge site. The cost of the bridge is £17,777. Owing to the fact that the river breaks up into several channels before reaching the sea it was found necessary to build the bridge some distance up the river to avoid the changing river-bed. It is no uncommon occurrence during a flood for the channels to be shifted a considerable distance. Before reaching the sea the river flows through a shingle bed of immense thickness. This bed was apparently at one time a bay. The river delta is nearly a mile across. BEAUTIFUL SCENIC ROAD The bridge when completed will open up one of the most beautiful coastal and scenic roads in the Dominion. For practically the whole distance from Opotiki to the Cape a view can be obtained of the ,sea. Beautiful bush scenery also abounds. Tragedy is associated with the Motu River. Many years ago one of the worst drowning tragedies in the history of the Dominion occurred. A heavily-laden Maori canoe which was carrying school children across the swollen river, capsized, precipitating its human freight into the water. Eighteen children were drowned. It is only a few years ago that a murder occurred near here. In December, 1921, a hawker named Zambucka, of Auckland, while about to cross the streams at the mouth of the river on horseback, was shot in the back with a shot-gun and killed. A native was tried on a charge of murder and was acquitted.