THE BUTT ROAD

Dominion, Volume 10, Issue 3147, 27 July 1917, Page 6

THE BUTT ROAD

CONCRETE SECTION PROPOSED £25,000 TO BE BORROWED. Tho troublesome Hutt Hoad, its winter condition, and what was best to be done to remedy it, came before the City Council last evening in the form of a report from the Hutt lioad Board, which, after a meeting on Wednesday and an inspection of the road, had resolved:— (1) That the board wait upon the Minister of Defence to request a subsidy towards the upkeep of tho road on account of the "special circumstances involved ; (2) that the board is of opinion that the City Engineer's original report recommending the laying of a strip of concrete along the road be adopted; (3) that the Wellington. City Council bo asked to obtain the necessary legislative authority to raise a loan for the purpose of giving effect to the City Engineer's proposal; (i) that the board is of opinion that the whole of the mechani-cally-propelled vehicular traffic registered within the districts southward of Kaitoke ami should be charged an annual fee (to be detmnined). and tho whole of the money collected should lx? pooled for the purpose of meeting the contributors' financial, obligations in regard to the Hutt Road."

The Mayor, in referring tn the proposal, said that ho knew that it was held in some quartrvs " Ihat a much bettor road should exist for the money that was spent on it, but pointed out that the road had to curry a grrat deal more heavy traffic since the curtailment of the railway services, traffic Hint in tho ordinary would have devolved upon the railway. The council had laid down a surface of bitumen on a portion of the road to lay the diist, a surface, similar to that Riven to certain streets in Wellington, and which had been down for three or four years without being materially disturbed. It had to be remembered that in making the Hutt fioad there had been a good bit of filling, and with the movement, of euch places under the influence of heavy traffic the road had broken up and the bitumen had come up in ridges. It was now proposed that a width of 23ft. should be laid down in concrete, with a cushion of bitumen on top, and to that end it was proposed to .seek . power to raise a loan of .£25,000 which would be the cheapest finance in the end as against the cost of the piecemeal way of carrying out the work now being adopted. Councillor Fitzgerald pbinted out that the road was at its worst where the greatest amount of money had been spent on it—between the western end of the Thorsidon Esplanade and the Manawalii niihvav bridge, which.he attributed to the heavy traffic between Wellington and the oil stores. At any time- after a big oil cargo arrived they could see the big 5ion lorries churning up that part of the road, doing an immense amount of damage.

The Mayor paid that the concrete road would mean a big fining of tyres, anil (ho owners of motor vehicles could well afford to pay an annual license fee as they would save, it over and over again in tyres.

Councillor Barber asked about the position of horse vehicles. They would do much more damage lo the proposed road than the motors, as on a fuiooth surface the motors would do next to no damage.

Councillor Lnckie said that he thought tho molor people would be only tou willing to pay the tax, as they would travel more smoothly quicker, and would be able to carry, more passengers. The difficulty he saw would be in collecting the tax. Jfe did not see how it was to be effectively done without a. toll-gate. By,-imposing an annual tax, too, tho man who traversed the road once a month would bo paying the same as those who used the road every day, whilst the motors from outside the district would use the load for nothing. The toll-gate would not be tolerated he was quite sure.

The Mayor was quite optimistic on tho mutter, and said that he hoped the council would affirm the principle embodied in the Hutt Road Board's proposal." which he was sure was on the right truck.

The proposal was agreed to. The council also approved of the amount proposed to be expended on the road during the current yen' '.&I802). This had been arrived at by cutting out the .£SOO proposed for further tar-sur-facing. '