ACCESS TO EASTERN SUBURBS

Dominion, Volume 14, Issue 165, 8 April 1921, Page 9

ACCESS TO EASTERN SUBURBS

IDEA FOR NEW TUNNEL TO HATAiTAI

A / STRAIGHT-ON EXTENSION OF COURTENAY PLACE

_ 'A citizen -who takes a quiet interest in Municipal matters and who ha s a notion tnat ths eastern suburbs will one day ®arry a larger population than old WelaS con^ne d by the hills, believes tnat the provision of a large traffic and tramway flunnel. through Mount Victoria will be a matter of sheer necessity in the not-fiar-distant future. In view of the growth that can be reasonably expected. in Greater Wellington, he considers that the proposals to run another tunnel through the hill near Elizabeth, I’irie, .or Ellice Streets, are but beating the air, owing tb the steep grades of the approaches from ith city. "My idea, which I believe is a feasible one/’ said he yesterday, "is to carrv Courtenay Place straight on to the hill, and from a convenient spot, say, between Levy and Brougham Streefls, to ; contract a tunnel which would penetrate hill on an easy grade, coming out in , the valley behind Mount Victoria, a Jittle to tiho north of the Kilbirnie end ef the existing tunnel. That valley, by ■the utilisation of the spoil from the tunnel, could be transformed into a brood roadway ill at would carry a 'double line of rails, probably not to extend by way of Moxham Avenue, but which could be run along the new road that has already been formed by the lower or eastern boundary of the Town Belt—e road_that will probably tap a succession of. sports grounds that will be constructed along those pleasant lower slopes within the next twenty years. "At the Courtenay Place junction the traffic is congested at certain hours of the day and everyone concedes that it is dangerous now. It is a place that calls for 'safety zones’ on the American idea. If Courtenay Place were extended eastward in a direct lines, immediate and permanent relief would be given from a traffic point of v.iew. "The big thing for the council to do •would be to remove the properties—all •wooden buildings—between the lower end cf Kent Terrace and the site of the entrance to the tunnel, and build over the ' tracks and roadway d big arcade. This, ■when flanked with well-lighted shops, ■would form a valuable asset either to be resold or leased, making an extension of the actual business thoroughfare of Courtenay Place. "That is, roughly, a sketch of how the traffic problem as far as tflie eastern suburbs are concerned would bo dealt •with in an enterprising community. To think of making a traffic tunnel with a take-off half-way up the mountain js only piling up trouble for posterity.”