BRIDGING WHAU CREEK

Sun (Auckland), Volume III, Issue 872, 16 January 1930, Page 10

BRIDGING WHAU CREEK

NEW PLANS FOR PIER STRUCTURE SURVEY OF CANAL SITE A fourth set of plans for the new bridge to be constructed over the Whau Creek, which is designed to overcome the existing impasse between the New Lynn Town Board and the Harbour Board concerning the type of structure, is now being prepared. For three years engineers have wrestled with the problem of replacing the existing structure spanning the creek. Three local bodies, Auckland City Council, the Harbour Board and New Lynn Town Board have had lengthy, if inconclusive, discussions on the subject—all because some men have visualised a day when the Waitemata and Manukau Harbours will be joined and the waters of the Waikato will flow into the Manukau, forming a waterway from Queen Street to the rock barrier at Cambridge. If the canal were not only feasible, but reasonably certain, the Whau bridge problem would not be so difficult. The lack of certainty is the troublesome point. The engineers to the New Lynn Town Board originally planned to have a new bridge over the Whau within 12 months. Alternative schemes for a pier bridge and an arched culvert were also prepared. Then the Harbour Board, which had laid down requirements of a 50ft span, changed its mind and asked that the bridge should be so designed that it would not be a hindrance to any canal built in the future. New Lynn declined to pay extra costs for a bridge that it considered would be more expensive than the legitimate requirements of traffic to New Lynn and beyond, warranted. This created an impasse, which the Public Works Department sought to solve by preparing a complete set of plans for what was considered the ideal bridge. These plans failed to meet Harbour Board requirements. After much hegotiation the subject has now been advanced by the Harbour Board surveying a possible canal route along the Whau and a fourth set of plans is being prepared for a pier bridge, which must have piers set aslant, to harmonise with this canal line, and there must be a minimum lateral and vertical clearance.