Bridge report provokes alarm
A geotechnical report on Cambridge’s
1905-built Victoria St bridge shows it has significant corrosion and ‘‘does not meet modern standards for factors of safety’’.
But the Waipa¯ District Council says that does not mean the bridge is unsafe, and it is planning to spend
$2.5 million on repairs by 2022. Transport manager Bryan Hudson said safety standards changed all the time and if the Victoria St bridge was constructed today, it would be built under a different set of requirements.
The results of the August 2020 geotechnical report prompted Cambridge ward councillor Roger Gordon to question the safety of the bridge when the council’s service and delivery committee met on Tuesday.
Debate over the bridge’s integrity had been fuelled by an online page critical of the council’s care of the
115-year-old structure.
‘‘There is a statement in your report that the bridge does not meet modern standards for factors of safety,’’ Gordon said to Hudson.
‘‘And yet I can’t see anywhere those standards are identified, and in what way we are not meeting those standards . . . my interpretation is that the bridge is unsafe.’’
The report said significant corrosion around the central arch pins on the bridge required investigation, including an ultrasound, when the bridge was prepared for a full repaint.
The council had set aside
$2.6 million in its Long Term Plan for repairs and painting during the
2022-23 summer.
Hudson, who had been involved in the maintenance of the bridge for 30 years, said the bridge would still be safe to use before repairs were made.
He said most of the bridges in the district were not built to modern standards, but standards of the time they were constructed.
‘‘In 1905 or earlier, when the design was done, engineers would have
Cambridge Chamber of Commerce chief executive excavated the soil on the bank, come to a good firm, hard surface and built the concrete foundation that the arc sits into.
‘‘They believed that to be a perfectly safe and suitable foundation and over the last 115 years, that has proved to be the case.’’
Hudson said the council did not automatically bring its stock of bridges up to modern standards every time the standards changed. ‘‘That’s not required and not viable.’’
The bridge was deemed to be in a ‘‘fair to good’’ condition and councillors were happy with the report and advice from experts which showed it was safe for the public to use.
Cambridge Chamber of Commerce chief executive Kelly Bouzaid was watching the meeting via audio-visual and was aware of a concern about the structural integrity of the bridge.
‘‘But looking at the report and the conversation that followed today, I think it’s evident there are no safety concerns from the council’s perspective.’’
Bouzaid said some wording in the report may have caused alarm, ‘‘but I do not think there is cause for alarm or that the bridge is in a state of deterioration.’’
The chamber set up a meeting between the council and the business community in November last year, when it was agreed mid-June would be the time to look at some feasibility work for a fourth bridge across the Waikato River to alleviate traffic congestion.
‘‘I think it’s evident there are no safety concerns from the council’s perspective.’’