RESURFACING BUSY STREET

Press, Volume XCV, Issue 28260, 24 April 1957, Page 12

RESURFACING BUSY STREET

Repair Work At Bottleneck

Christchurch’s busiest street section—the Colombo street bottleneck to Cathedral square—is being renovated so that it will complete the reconstruction which began at Moorhouse avenue. Work began yesterday on digging up the middle strip ready for a concrete foundation, over which will be laid hot mix. Reconstruction of Colombo street began at the Moorhouse avenue end with the lifting of the old tram rails. It proceeded to the Hereford street corner, and the City Council decided recently that the concrete middle strip and resurfacing should be continued to Cathedral square and on the High street portion. Traffic officers have been called in for a few days to replace the vehicle-actuated lights which normally .control traffic in Colombo, High and Hereford streets. During most of yesterday, there was a single lane for traffic on each side of the road works, but much of the traffic was diverted. Traffic officers had to keep one eye on the traffic and the other on their fellow officers so that the flow of traffic did not conflict Rush-hour Traffic

Between 4.30 and 5.30 yesterday evening, the traffic officers had a difficult task guiding traffic through the bottleneck between Cathedral square and the busy intersection of Colombo, Hereford and High streets.

While traffic entering the Square from Colombo street south was able to use the left side of the road, vehicles from High street and from the east side of Hereford street were forced to keep to the right of the road. The west side of Hereford street was closed to through traffic. Long lines of vehicles built up in the Square and in Colombo street, and the multitude of pedestrians caused further complications. The two harassed officers on duty during the rush hour last evening did a remarkable job in preventing the bottleneck from developing into a serious traffic jam. With the traffic lights switched off, one officer had to be on duty at the intersection for most of the day.

It is likely that the bottleneck will continue till about the end of next week, when it is hoped to have the intersection completely relaid.

A spokesman for the contractors said yesterday that the work was being carried out in strips to keep as many traffic lanes open as possible. It was expected that the centre strip would be laid in quick-setting concrete by this evening, after which work will commence on the west strip, and then on the east strip. The concrete will take about five days to cure and each lane will be opened to traffic progressively. A hot bituminous concrete will then be laid to form the surface. •