URGENT REPAIRS

Waikato Times, Volume 127, Issue 21193, 16 August 1940, Page 9

URGENT REPAIRS

HIGH LEVEL BRIDGE WARNING TO TRAFFIC (Special to Times.) CAMBRIDGE, Thursday The Cambridge Borough Council has issued a warning to traffic that urgent and rather delicate repairs are being undertaken to the High Level Bridge, and that all motorists must reduce speed to five miles an hour when crossing. The borough engineer, Mr W. McK. Jeffery, has stated that previous efforts to warn motorists did not meet with the response wanted, and that if motorists do not give heed to the latest warning, it may be necessary ! to close the bridge to motor traffic until the repairs are completed. Gusset plates which hold the four main beams of the bridge have been i found in need of replacing. There . are two plates to each beam, and as one plate is removed for replacing, the whole strain is placed on the other. Heavy traffic on the bridge | causes vibration, and it is to ensure that the strain is not too great that precautions have been taken. I After the bridge has been repaired i it is expected it will be as strong as ever. Heavier bolts are being used and every effort is being made to give the bridge a maximum of strength, for the reason that today the traffic is vastly heavier than when j the bridge was constructed in 1908. : Footways were added years later, but . the bridge was built to carry them, j However, in addition to the greater

volume of traffic, the bridge today has to carry a heavier load in extra decking and tar-sealing, not forgetting the borough water mains which cross the bridge.