Across Rewa River

New Fiji Bridge Under Construction

From Our Own Correspondent SUVA, July 3.

THE bridge over the Rewa River, one of the largest public works ever un dertaken in Fjii, is now well advanced in construction, and it should not be long before the old pontoon service across the river is discontinued.

The bridge is a large steel structure, and latterly some difficulty has been ex perienced in sinking the piles. When work was proceeding on the Davuilevu side of the river, the sinking had to be done in hard sandstone, and there was a solid foundation for the piers when they were sunk.

On the Nausori side of the river there

is a soft bed, and in cases it was neces sary to go to a great depth before bottom was reached. A few days ago, one cylin der had to be sunk 105 feet below water level, or 123 ft. below the highest flood level. With a few exceptions, notably the Hawkesbury River bridge in Australia, where piers were sunk to a depth of 160 ft., this is a record depth for the Southern Hemisphere.

Much of the trouble in connection with this pier was due to the fact that at a depth of 95ft. granite boulders were en countered. This depth was too great for the men in the air cylinder to work in, as was done for the other piers, so a one and a half ton cutter was employed to break up the obstruction.

Before the pier was finally dropped into position, it weighed over 500 tons, and there was a weight of 90 tons of pig iron superimposed on this. The handling of such a huge mass required ceaseless care, but the task was successfully accom plished, and the pier placed in its correct position.

A recent photograph showing the progress made in the construction of the bridge across the Rewa River, Fiji.