MAIN HIGHWAYS

Dominion, Volume 28, Issue 86, 5 January 1935, Page 10

MAIN HIGHWAYS

Three Thousand Men at Work BOARD’S ACTIVE . POLICY Dustless Roads and New Bridges Dustless roads’ are. lengthening rapidly throughout the Dominion. The programme of the Main Highways Board aims at providing an additional 3«0 miles of clean-surface pavement this financial year. This work goes forward steadily in both islands. Within a, year or two,’ for example, motorists will have a firm, dustless highway from Wellington to Woodville, while a •similar boon will be enjoyed practically all the way from Christchurch ti Dunedin. Three thousand men are at work makjng better roads on the main routes between centres of population. There is no reason to anticipate a slackening of progress; on the contrary there is prospect 'bf more men being employed. Several local bodies are co-operating with the board in errier to improve highways that have suffered from'some neglect during recent difficult years. More money has been, available this financial year for highways.. construction ■ and maintenance, and the difference in actual and prospective expenditure—£9oo,oo9 as compared-with £600.000 last financial year—isj marked by appreciable improvement on' hundreds of miles of main roads. Progress has not been confined to the making of dustless highways; no fewer than ISS bridges either have been built oi\ are in the process of construction during the currout financial year; Most of these are from 20 feet to 24 feet wide. Programme of Work. Referring to the policy of the Main Highways Board, the chairman, Mr. C. J. McKenzie, engineer-in-chief, Public Works Department, said yesterday that members of the board would leave Wellington on January 24 on an inspectional visit l to 'the Auckland and North Auckland main highways districts; The' tour, will last about nine days. Last month they visited the Mtwiawatu, Taranaki and Wairarapa districts, where many proposed improvements were discussed with representatives of local bodies. Several of these proposals are now receiving consideration. .

Among the improvements to be effected in the Wellington district is the widening of the narrowest p.tfrt of the main-highway'on the Featherston Side of the Rimutaka hill. The road for about twq miles will be widened so as to provide space for two-way traffic. Men are now employed on the work. The highway between Paremata and Porirua will be improved shortly near Porirua. The surface is to be tarsealed.

The board’s programme of works •throughout the Dominion includes many improvements. An important contract has been' made for the provision of a first-class road between Drury and. Mercer, this portion of highway including l the notorious Bom'bay hill. The cost of the work is estimated at about £105,000. Its completion should be effected toward the eud of this year. Eleven miles of main highway between Ngaruawaliia anti Frankton also will be made a dustless road. Plans are in hand for the improvement of 29 miles of highway between, Hamilton and Te Awamutu. Across the Plains. In the South Island, nine miles of highway between Ashburton and Hinds will be sealed, and an additional 19 miles between Rolleston and Rakaia will be similarly improved. When this has been completed there will be practically a dustless highway from Christchurch to Timaru. Work is going forward from Dunedin northward, and when the approved programme has been carried out within a year or so there wilt be a clean highway from Christchurch to Dunedin. Highways improvement is also in hand or projected for early operation in the district north of Christchurch, on the West Coast round about Greymouth and Hokitika, -and some nine miles of main roads in the Nelson and Motueka- districts. New works scheduled for the near, future include the improvement of about 10 miles of main highway, in the Pahiatua district, and 13 miles norm of Foxton. Those works are.planned for completion early next year. In many districts long'stretches of roads radiating from various centres will be metalled. Bridges and Crossings. As regards bridges, the. existing programnje of construction is a substantial one. In adrtftiou to the 185 bridges already referred to, it is planned to construct about 20 bridges in concrete over the Wayward River in the Cardrona Valley—a famous region in the pioneering gold-digging days of western Otago. The stream crosses the. road at many points, anil fording it by motor-car occasionally surprises unwary drivers. The new bridge at Balehitha will’bo finished iiex.t month. Work is well advanced on the Fitzherbert bridge near Palmerston North and the bridge at Waipukurau. Nothing definite has yet been decided in respect of the problem of dangerous level crossings. Arrangements are being made for a conference between the Railways Department and the Main Highways Board. As every road traveller knows, there is ample scope for great work in eliminating notorious death-traps. Possibly it would take’ about £1.000,000 to make all the highways safe, but such exiienditure would provide more work 1 throughout the country and make an end to a pernicious danger. Meanwhile, officials 1 have nothing to say about questions of policy.