TOP GEAR ROAD TO OHOPE BEACH IS VISUALISED

Bay of Plenty Beacon, Volume 13, Issue 40, 12 January 1949, Page 5

TOP GEAR ROAD TO OHOPE BEACH IS VISUALISED

County Engineer Looks To Future Over the holidays the Ohope road proved again that it cannot carry the traffic that the summer rush to the beach causes it to take. And, in the wet winter weather, it proved it could not stand up to winter conditions. In fact, it is not, and probably never could be, a first- / class road. What is the alternative?

When a Beacon reporter asked the County engineer, Mr C. H. Brebner, that question yesterday, he was keen to talk about it. He knows the answer, and visualises a top-gear highway all the way from the Board Mills to Ohope. Beyond that, he is confident there can be a better, shorter road to Opotiki.

Naturally, since the County Council is not the only authority involved, Mr Brebner was not prepared to give any indication when these hopes will be realised, but he is fairly confident they will be. Easy Route Suggested

His' assumption is that the future highway may come into Whakatane :from near the Board Mills, along Eivers’ and McGarvey’s roads to the proposed Strand Extension. ‘I hen he suggests it might follow the Avaterfront along Quay street to Matatua street to the back of the "town and climb by an easier grade than the present one from near the Police Station to the first junction on the present Hillcrest road. From there the easiest route seems to be to follow the Waiewe stream and -strike back onto the present road at its junction with the Gorge road. Thence to the turn-off at the shepherd’s cottage past the Hill Cemetery, the proposition leaves the realm of speculation and becomes an immediate probability. .May Start Soon A line has been surveyed, to cut /out all but two bends, one of which will be safe at 55 m.p.h. and the other at 60 m.p.h., and running behind the Cemetery on a better grade than the present road. Though it will involve some big cuts and considerable filling, Mr Brebner hopes to see that section well under way,, if not completed, this year. That part of the road is actually part of the present highway, but !rom there to the beach is not. Opotiki Trip Shortened i .However, though it has not been officially surveyed yet, Mr Brebner is confident that there will be no difficulty, in finding an improved alternative route through the Pohutakawa bush. It would involve a big cut through the first saddle and down the spur, but thereafter would be easy going, and would provide a top-gear road coming out beyond the*bridge at the foot of the present hill near the picnic gorund. Thereafter, there should he no difficulty whatever in making a vastly improved highway through Ohope, round Ohiwa and through Wainui, to Opotiki. Actually, the present Wainui route saves 12 miles between Whakatane and Opotiki, and the suggested route wpuld be shorter still.