The Hawaiian gazette. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu, Hawaii]) 1865-1918, 1885-05-27


wall Of the second Nuuanu bridge has been
repaired and to a cursory examination ap-
pears to be satisfactory piece of work.
Substantial II Is. and as well put together
a. can be expected of prison labordirected
by non professional supervision.
But the mere patching Of the damaged
masonry. leaving the causes Of the dam
age TO repeat their action. Is not exactly
intelligent engineering work. The causes
Of the recent breach in the wall exist now.
and viii again produce the same effect
or worse II not provided against.
Any one. looking up stream from the
Pauoa side Of the bridge. can see that the
bed Of the stream has been diverted very
considerably from the positionit occupied
when the present bridge was built The
stream has in the course of years, cut
itself new channel several yards mdulU
of its old one. The consequence Is that
during a freShet, the whole volume of water
Is hurled in full force against the hollow
curve Of the wing wall, by which. if it stand
the strain, it Is violently detected at little
less than a right angle, and forced to run
parallel rU tis rpadray II The 5ridgc for sew
eral yards. when 1t impinges on the oppo
site wing wall, and i again turned at
right angle before it can escape under the
bridge.
The inevitable consequence % this zig
zag track OF the food water, Is perfectly
plain to any one not connected with the
Government superintendent of Public
Works, and was abundantly illustrated by
the effects Of the water on the occasions
Of the last two great freshets That Of
April. 1884, was received by the mauko
wing wall. which withStood the strain.
hurled the waters on the opposite wall. and
destroyed a slight brick fabric on the same
alignment. burst into the Pauoa valley
road. moved from its stand wooden
shanty at the corner Of the Nuuanu and
Pauoa roads. and sent its contents spin
ming down the former some three hundred
yards
Nor was tins ALL The waters. pent up
by the tortuous course which they had
been allowed 10 assume by neglect. once
piled up against the eastern or Pauoa side
Of the bridge till the timbers carrying the
roadway were assailed, and the fabric it
self in imminent danger. At the same
time the corresponding timbers on the
western or Wuanae side of the bridge
were scarcely wetted; then there was a fall
OF at least three feet. actually under the
bridge and occasioned solely by the obsta-
cleS which the stream. in Its present bed.
meets with before 1t can escape.
In the freshet Of the 10th inst, the water
came down again on the u,0piu wall which
gave way under the strain. and had it risen
to the level Of 1884. or lasted a little longer.
the masonry Of the bridge itself would
have been attacked from the rear and
probably thrown down.
On Sunday evening last a freshet came
down, raising the surface of the water
nearly four feet in about twice as many
minutes. the damage had Just been repaired
but still the flood had to make two sharp
turns before 1t could pass away under the
bridge
The remedy Is obvious, to any one not
blinded by fat sinecure salaries. The
original. but now choked bed Of the stream
for several hundred yards on the Pauoa
side of the bridge, should be cleared out.
and the masonry at the foot Of the exist
ing naaku wing wall built out in the depth
of its curve to guide the water into the
channel it ran in when the bridge was
built.
If this be not done. one Of three things
must happen, in the case of a food such
ss that of April, 1884. or a few inches
higher. or a few minutes longer either
the gs1ah' wall must give way. as it did
fortnight ago. or the opposite wall must
90, and flood the Pauoa and Nuuanu roads
as was partially effected in 81 or. if both
stand, their combined obstruction must
pile up the water until it carries away the !
bridge itself
The breach made less than three weeks |
ago. was exactly anticipated and pointed |
out as inevitable soon after the freshet of |
1884
The last Legislature voted 5000 for a |
of Public Works. 5000 for !
a Civil Engineer, 800 for travelling and |
Incidental expenses; value reeeived-a /
patch on a breach caused by neglected. /
the Superintendent of Public works do |
show himself outside the pay
affico