BRIDGE INQUIRY

Sun (Auckland), Volume III, Issue 707, 5 July 1929, Page 16

BRIDGE INQUIRY

COMMISSION MAY BE APPOINTED SHORTLY FOR WAITEMATA SPAN

A commission of inquiry to investigate the scheme to bridge Waitemata Harbour may be set up by the Government in a few weeks. Mr. R. H. Greville, president of the Auckland Harbour Bridge Association, expressed this view to members of the committee last evening. For the first time, delegates from suburban local bodies attended, and were cordially welcomed. The association now has delegates from nine local bodies of Greater Auckland, including the city, said Mr. Greville. He expressed pleasure that the bridge movement was becoming recognised as a vital factor to Greater Auckland's life. As a result of a conference with the engineers, a contract price for borings, together with a letter suggesting the personnel of the commission, had been submitted to the Prime Minister, Sir Joseph Ward, Mr. Greville reported. The price obtained for the borings was very satisfactory, being well under £ 500. It is intended to put down 10 bores 400 feet apaxt on the site recommended by the association, and two bores in the middle of the causeways. Six other bores the same distance apart are to be put down from Northcote Point toward the reclamation.

“Borings should be taken on the proposed site to enable the engineers to estimate the approximate cost and type of bridge that should be constructed,” declared M.r. S. Jones, one of the engineers. He knew the formation of the harbour bed was sedimentary, extending almost entirely across, and contended therefore that any borings undertaken would serve to indicate the nature of the foundations of any site. A 500-foot bore had been sunk in the harbour, and no variation had been shown in the nature of the bed. It was unlikely, therefore, there would be any variation in the precincts of the proposed bridgehead. Dealing with suggestions that the papa rock foundation would not carry the structure, Air. Jones assured members that once the papa of the haxbour bed was penetrated to a depth of 10 feet it would safely carry trom 10 to 15 tons a square foot.

A suggestion by Air. A. E. Greenslade, that no money should be spent on borings until after the commission had deciued the most suitable site for the bridge, provoked some discussion. He maintained that if the foundations were then found suitable, the cost and type of structure could be determined. “Some preliminary investigations of the nature of the harbour bed are necessary to enable the engineers to estimate the cost and suggest the type of bridge,” repiied Mr. Greville. He maintained that the association must present the strongest possible case to the commission.

These view’s were endorsed by the majority present. Expressions of sympathy with the projject were voiced by Air. G. L. Taylor, Alount Eden, and Air. A. A. Buckley, representing Mount Albert. From a town-p.anning point of view, the question of fixing the site of the bridge was becoming increasingly important to the city, declared Mr. (J. W. Hutchison.