20 YEARS TOO SOON

Sun (Auckland), Volume IV, Issue 973, 16 May 1930, Page 11

20 YEARS TOO SOON

HARBOUR BRIDGE PROPOSAL COMMISSION’S REPORT Prtss Association WELLINGTON, Today. The proposal that Auckland City should be connected with the suburbs on the North Shore of the Waitemata by means of a harbour bridge is regarded by the expert ! inquiry commission as premature.

1 The question came before Parlia- | ment last session, and the Govern, j ment undertook to have it investigated by a commission. The report of this body has now been received by the Minister of Public Works, the Hon. E. A. Ransom. The commission does not favour construction of the bridge. “After careful consideration of all the evidence, and after the investigations made ill the district,” says the report, “the commissioners are of the opinion that the time for the erection of a bridge across the Waitemata Harbour will not arrive in less than 20 years, though it might Jie advisable in, say, 10 years, to have ”he position reviewed again." Though the report is positively negative, the engineering experts of the commission have devoted a considerable amount of attention to the various schemes, and, subject to the recommendation already quoted, they recommend a site (from among the five suggested) which would run from a point above the present Auckland wharves direct to the suburb of Northcote, and be connected with Devonport by a combined causeway and bridges across the shallow water. The cost of this scheme is set down at £1,956,000. As the length of the proposed works would be 19,840 feet, and the bridge would need to have a clear height above the high-water mark of 135 feet, one of the spans would have to be of the cantilever type, with a clear span of SOO feet to enable shipping to pass the bridge. The structure would be on concrete piers and piles, and would have steel spans and concrete decking. The, report discusses in detail the financial provision which would need to be made for the scheme, and shows that, while greater benefit would accrue to undeveloped lands in the northern marine suburbs, the burden would fall more heavily on the Auckland City contributors. Though there is still a great deal of unoccupied land in that area which would be depreciated by the increased facilities provided in cross-harbour services, the commission considers that the present harbour ferry services are quite adequate and extremely cheap. The Government contribution is discussed in the report, and although the commission does not consider the work could be brought into the category of an important national undertaking, it suggests £250,000 as a maximum contribution from the State. The members of the commission were Mr. J. Marchbanks, general manager and chief engineer of the Wellington Harbour Board; Mr. F. W. Furkert. engineer-in-chief of the Public Works Department; and Captain Coll McDonald, retired master mariner, and member of the Otago Harbour- Board.

NOT DISMAYED

ASSOCIATION CONSIDERS FINDING EFFORTS TO BE INCREASED The Harbour .’Bridge Association feels that although the finding of the Commission is not favourable to the building of the bridge in the immediate future, much good has come of the report. A meeting of the association was held this morning and the following statement has been made by the president, Mr. R. H. Greville: “On the whole the report contains much valuable information, which must prove of incalculable value when the question of a bridge is considered at a future date. The association. of course, does not agree that the bridge is premature, but feels that the question, after all, is merely a matter of opinion. The Commission has recognised the fact that sooner or later a ferry service, however good, will become inadequate to cater for transharbour traffic.

“In regard to the question of costs, the association cannot comment on this until the details of the report are in the hands of its engineers. “The fact that the Commission adopted the toll method of financing the bridge is distinctly gratifying to the association, as this was the method it advocated at the Commission. That the vexed question of the site has now been settled is an important step forward, and the fixing of the central span at 800 feet and the clearance at 135 feet seems to be a happy point in the Commission’s findings.

“The Commission based the estimated revenue on 3,000 vehicles a day, the exact figure submitted by the association. It appears from the report that no allowance is made for a future •increase in traffic, but from the experience of other bridges it has been proved that there is a very substantial annual increase, as a new bridge must create new traffic. It was therefore quite unfair to base all the estimates on the first year’s revenue.

“The association certainly expects a substantial contribution from the Main Highways Fund and it is pleasant to note in this connection that the Commission suggests a contribution of £250,000 from the public funds. The brightest spot in the report appears to be that the Commission considers that no obstacle should be placed in the way of the construction of the bridge by private enterprise on a toll basis. This provides enormous scope for future work on the part of the association, which will now take steps to have empowering legislation introduced. The association feels, therefore, that private enterprise will not be slow to invest capital in an undertaking of such vast possibilities of development as the Auckland Harbour Bridge. “The supporters of the bridge movement have every reason to look to the future with confidence and, recognising that most difficulties have been overcome, will now redouble then- efforts to expedite ihc- narbuur bridge.” .