WHAU BRIDGE SCHEME

Sun (Auckland), Volume III, Issue 920, 13 March 1930, Page 9

WHAU BRIDGE SCHEME

FURTHER PLANS APPEAR STRUCTURE IN CONCRETE Replacement of the present wooden Whau bridge on the Great North Road has been brought a step nearer. Plans for a reinforced concrete structure have been prepared by Messrs. Gray and Gulliver, engineers to the New Lynn Borough Council. The design, which has been approved by the Alain Highways Board and conforms to requirements of the Auckland Harbour Board, has been submitted to local bodies concerned, together with specifications and estimates. After the plan has beeiv considered a commission will si? to consider the proposals already formulated. The proposed bridge has been designed at an angle to comply with liarbour Board requirements in view of the possibility of a canal being constructed between the Waitemata and Manukau Harbours. Although this has been found necessary there will be no noticeable deviation from the existing roadway from the point of view of traffic, since the angle is confine*! chiefly to the under structure. The plans provide for a 50ft. centre span with a 35ft. span on either side, mounted on mass concrete piers. The bridge would have a reinforced girder and slab deck with a pre-cast panel balustrade. There is 50ft. between the parapets, and allowance has been made for a 38ft. roadway and two 6ft. footpaths. The filling about the abutments would be of pitched lHuestone. Waterpipes would be carried between the girders underneath the deck. As the controlling local body, the New Lynn Borough Council has proposed the following allocation of the cost, which for the plan submitted is £13,000: —Auckland City Council, 40 per cent.: New Lynn Borough Council. 25 per cent.: Waitemata County Council, 11.5 per cent.: Glen Eden Town Board, 7 per cent.: Henderson Town Board, 11 per cent.; Mount Albert Borough Council. 2.5 per cent.; Mount Eden Borough Council, 1.5 per cent.; Helensville Town Board, 1.5 per cent. The allocation lias been based on the result of recent traffic tallies, but it may bo upset or altered by tiie commission. It was originally intended to divide the cost equally on either side of the creek, but at the request of some local bodies others, which were not previously considered, have been included.