BOROUGH BRIDGE SCHEMES.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LII, Issue 201, 29 September 1909, Page 4

BOROUGH BRIDGE SCHEMES.

Mr. A. 11. Kendall, the borough "n-1 gineer, can iairly claim to be ''pretty slick" in tlu* matter of preparing plans, estimating quantities. and compiling .specifications for hie bridge contracts Of course, very few people understand what it moans to design a bridge, draw plans to scale of its longitudinal section. cross-scction. elevation, and all the rest of iliuso interminable technical terms; showing the details of the sysu-m of construction, and so on. There's , really not very much to show when it's all done, and we are prone to judge by results. The Borough Council \t> fortunate that the cost of lighting its offices is by contract, for the midnight electricity—"midnight oil" is out-of-date in progressive New Plymouth—has to our knowledge been pretty considerably consumed in the borough engineer's office of late.

The engineer has prepared two alternative plant? for the Oilt-stvpet bridge; two bridge plans and two culvert plans for Powderhatn street. The lirst of the Gill street plans is of a ferro-concrete , slab and girder bridge, with a row of j ferro-concrete piles running down the I centre of the stream. The width of the j bridge is 41 feet. The beams in the dec 1 ;- i ing run in the direction of the trallic road, which crosses the stream at an j angle. The bridge has an iron railing,] alllxcd to eoiu-rote posts. No. 2 pin j id of a smaller bridge, providing a waterway of only 20 feci, the remainder' being made up by filling, i The Powderham street bridge, like! hut at Gill street will have no ornaHi. n!atio:i alxmt it. The plans pruv : dc tt«r a 40ft square-span beam bridge of l'erro-concrete, on concrete piers, 'the decking being 30ft from the bed of tli) stream. The second is of a slab and girder bridge on piles, again of fenoeoncrete. Two culvert plans are suo- ! mitted. The first has a .span of 40 feet, and the second 20 feet, which allows for a good deal of filling. In every case the plans allow for the full roadway and footpaths. The time allowed for completion is six months, and one of the clauses in the specifications insists on machine-mixed concrete.