OTAKI WILL HAVE SAY

Chronicle (Levin), 21 January 1948, Page 2

OTAKI WILL HAVE SAY

Route Proposed Motor-way WlTake The route of the proposed new motor-way through the borough would almost certaxnly -be the one recommended by the Borough Council and the committee, said Mr. F. Hansen, Highways Boaid engineer, speaking in Dtaki recentlv Accompanied by .Messrs. T. A., Johnson, Wellington District engineer, and C. B. Thompson, of the Public Works Department, he met hiembers of the special committe set up following a protest meeting over the proposed new highway, aird members of the Otaki Borough Council. , . , ~ v Mr Hansen first apologised for the fact that the plans had been sent to the council without any explanation. He then went on to show the effect of these motorways in other countries, and how vital they were to the transport economy of a country. By eliminating sharp turns and dangerous intersections, with limited access on and off the motorway , higher * average ' speed eould be maintained with a much improved degree of saiety, He also showed that though a town might be bypassed, it was essential for that. town'to have access to the. motorway as close to the town as could be suitably arrangecL ' So far as Otaki was concemed, there were four possible routes which might be cohsidered, and these were shown on a plan which had been prepared. The first one traversed the area through the borough, as shown on the plan forwarded to the council. The second onediverted from this route at a point about onethird of the distance from Te Horo to Otaki Railway, and with a wide arc seawards through the Church Mission lan'ds, rejoined the first route somewhere north of Forest Lakes Road. The third route, diverting from the same place as the second, but towards the hilLs, passed just beyond the eastern boundary of the Otaki Maori Racing Club property, and rejoined the first route as in the second. The fourth route is slightly more hillwards than the third. None of these suggested rputes would interfere in any way with existing roads, as access woul'd be maintained on these by ranip, subway or overbridge. The width of the motorway through Otaki Borough, as in the proposed first route, would be 14 chains. This area would certainly be lost for production purposes, but if it were not used for the motorway, in a short time much of it would probably . be used for housing. As an ofiset to this loss, by its central position and the fact that it was one mile shorter than any of the other three routes,, it would save thousands of miles running expenses annually to the u'sers of the motorway, particularly those living in the borough. So far as Otaki was concerned, as elsewhere, Mr. Hansen said he was entirely 'disinterested; but from every aspect of the long view of the future, he strongly recommended the first route. He further under.took to forward to the council further information on the four routes, with a copy of the plan and air photos of the whole iocality. Though he could g'ive no definite date on which the work would be undertaken, he indicated that, in his opinion, it would probably be gome years. The route of the motorway .would almost certainly be that recommended by the Otaki Council aird committee, and it would therefore be necessary for them to give full consideration to .all matters affecting the borough and district adjoining, before .coming to any decision. In answer to questions, Mr. Hansen said that the motor-way wo'Uld bo similar to a railway line in that it would be fenced on both sides throughout its whole length. It wourd be on the same level as the surrounding land. The Act stipulated that a motor-way was not to be deemed a road or street, and •therefore could not be used for sub-divisional purposes. The modern view was not to by-pass the centres of population along the route, but to go through the centres, or as close as possible, to give them the benefit of convenient access.