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Kevin Such
It is very good to see that the Pekatahi Bridge is to get a facelift.
The plywood surface mentioned should have been installed before 50-tonne trucks were permitted.
The existing deck was little improved from the original when as a combined road-rail bridge, the maximum load on trucks was about 10 tonnes and most cars weighed less than a tonne. It is hard to see that a concrete deck would be too heavy.
About 30 years ago, an excursion train arrived in Tāneatua headed by a Ka locomotive at 135 tonnes, the heaviest on NZ Rail. Even the regular AB locomotives weighed 84 tonnes.
Waka Kotahi, the New Zealand Transport Agency, just last April opened the first new timber bridge in nearly 50 years, making just 15 timber highway bridges of the total 4200.
I had one unforgettable experience from my Waimana school days on this bridge.
It was my school holidays in 1947 and my uncle and aunt and cousin, Don Bell, and I were in the Morris Eight returning from Rotorua in the early evening.
A locomotive light was seen in the distance (probably at the Tāneatua station). There was much discussion between my uncle and aunt and we waited and waited and waited at the bridge.
Eventually, my aunt gave in and we proceeded across, carefully staring at that light. Even the then midway passing space would have been unlikely to be safe.
However, we were over and that light was still distant.
The Pekatahi Bridge will of course have to remain single lane but the traffic light control from some years ago was a significant improvement.