ROAD ACCESS

Bay of Plenty Beacon, Volume 8, Issue 54, 6 March 1945, Page 4

ROAD ACCESS

Sir—Several points come to mind in reading the report of the local body conference called to consider the course ol' the proposed State highway through this part of the Bay, which makes very sorry reading. One man says he is opposed to the main highway passing through the town and quotes English practice as his authority. I think he is wrong, T motored through most of the English towns- comparatively recently and in 110 case that I saw was the town by-passed, except where the old main road on which the town was built in mediaval times Avas. too narrow for modern traffic; often so narrow in fact that cars could scarcely pass each and in some cases both cars had to mount the footpath before they could pass. Hence detours.

Another man thinks a main highway would spoil Ohope. What nonsense ! Cars, at the present time, often in the hands of irresponsible •drivers, tear up and down the present track in a cloud of dust, or a sea of mud jumping out of one hole into another. What about, the hun-! dreds of passengers and visitors that the service cars would pick up and" sit down at Ohope.

Others, are. all for a road to "sweep around" with "a wide curve" behind the Pah and join up with the Hillcrest road—somewhere. I don't know where that preposterous idea originated but it reads as if these gentle* men must have acquired some shares in the Hillcrest Estate Co. Some people want to know, why turn back westward from the Pah when you want to go east? An<l by the time you have negotiated this. S bend and are back for enough to "join up with the Hillcrest road " would not 5 the same distance have taken you more than half way to Ohope had you continued on eastward over the saddle behind the Heads. which is

considerably lower than the road on» top of Hillcrest. Again, would not this road with its "wide sweeps" westward and southward make the journey to Ohope longer than it is at present? As to the glorious views it would unfold —wliere are they? Mudflats Maori shacks and rusting roofs. What view would it give of! Otirawairere the rest of the coast line and Ohope itself? None whatever ! Others profess to think that the whole Bay will go to wrack and ruin if the main highway misses the dark Waimana Gorge. If the railway goes through this gorge, the road t) I understand will be diverted to the south side, of the river necesn sitating two bridges to make way for the railway along the present ! road line. The utter selfishness of; the people of Whakatane in wanting the main highway to go through their town "cows a"; but these other good people want both highway and railway. This gorge road will always be a stock route as long as Taneatua is the railway terminus and who wants stock on a highway? Think that over !

Another man thinks these selfis-h Whakatanians should remember that other people want good roads too. Arc all roads that are not State highways bad roads then? And is; Whakatane only entitled to a bad road? Another man wants a compromise. This road is going to cost many thousands of pounds and is supposed to be going to serve All future gen-» erations, yet a responsible man talks about a compromise. Another fellow signing himself "Southerner" butts in with "it is well nigh impossible to take the road round the coast." Who saicTTt is? No P.W.D. engineer ever said so! There are at least four good road lines on what is called the coast road between Whakatane and Ohope for anyone to see who cares to take the trouble, to walk over them, any of which are far in advance of either the Maraetotara Gorge or the Hill-" crest, propositions. The fact is Mr Editor, that everybody including the P.W. engineers seem to have no doubt that in the final analysis the coast route has no compeers—and your correspondent is quite sure tliat sooner or later a road will follow that line—but for reasons of parochialism and votes (?) it seems j some people are will-*