Why Have A Tunnel?

Bay of Plenty Beacon, Volume 16, Issue 27, 1 December 1950, Page 2

Why Have A Tunnel?

It is suggested that Auckland build a prefabricated steel section tunnel instead of a harbour bridge. Just fancy that —folk crawling from one side of the harbour to the other through a hole in the ground. There are dozens of reasons why Auckland must have a bridge—Bridge with a capital “B.” What use is a tunnel to anybody except to get to the other side. You cannot see a tunnel except as a hole in the ground. What would Sydney be with a tunnel—just nothing. Nobody would say “have you seen our tunnel” like they say “have you seen our bridge.” The trouble about a tunnel is that you can’t see it. There stands Sydney Bridge, a monument to £lO million wasted if you like to say so, but there it stands. You cannot but see it. If you live beside it, you hear it all night and it keeps newcomers awake with the rumble and bangs. At odd moments it peaks up above a Sydney vista just when you least epect it. Moreover, it is a thing of beauty—as beautiful; as a Norman nave or a forest or a tracery of leaves. No tunnel could complete a city like the Bridge has completed Sydney. Just whether it is worth the cost is quite another matter. Auckland might get a new look with a Bridge. A new sub-CQn-sciousness would be created. A dignity would be given the place, Aucklanders could crow over Wellington about their Bridge—but not about a tunnel. In the end Wellington folk would be forced to throw a bridge or two across their harbour to Pencarrow or to Day’s Bay, just to be able to say, “now, our Bridges—have you seen them?” Who wants tunnels?