Bridge Across River Near Mangakino

Taupo Times, Volume XIV, Issue 69, 2 September 1965, Page 2

Bridge Across River Near

Mangakino

Work is well under way on the abutments to take a graceful steel arch bridge across the Mangawhio Stream, jnst north of the Waipapa power stati.on and on the west hank of the Waikato River. The contract for it was let recently to Messrs R. N. Codd Ltd., and W. B. E aston Ltd. at a tender price of £50,005. The bridge will close a gap in a vital land development roading network, including the west Taupo access road. It will also bring Mangakino elose to a through-route which will be an important alternative to SH 1 (Awanui-Auck-land- Wellington). The new bridge is expected to help the growth of the permanent town at Mangakino, former constrnction village for power statjjons along the Waikato, and it will contribute to the establishment of many more farms. An attractive picnic spot established by the Ministry of Works on Lake Waipapa, near the powerhouse, will also become better known to motorists. The structural steelwork has already been fabricated and test-assembled by Ministry of Works project workshops staff at Mangakino, and the contractors will launch it from the

Mangakino side. It will span a deep gully with almost vertical rock cliffs, and the 30ft. wide concrete deck will be 160ft. above normal river level. The bridge, 336ft. long, is expected to be finished by the end of next June. It was designed in the Civil Design Office of the Ministry of. Works.