NEW HIGHWAYS

Dominion, Volume 32, Issue 147, 17 March 1939, Page 11

NEW HIGHWAYS

Inspection By Prime

Minister

CONTRIBUTION WORK

Ngahauranga And Coastal Roads

An inspection of the road construction work in the Ngahauranga Gorge and on the Paekakariki Hill deviation coast was made yesterday by the Prime Minister, Mr. Savage, and an official party. Returning to Wellington over the Pahautanui-Haywards route, members of the party were also able to see the work that has been done there and on the Western Hutt Road. All were impressed with the great works in hand foi the improvement of the highways leading to and from Wellington. Modern mechanical appliances for shifting rock and soil were seen in operation. The visit was arranged by the Minister of Public Works, Mr. Semple, and the partv included the High Commissioner for the United Kingdom in New Zealand. Sir Harry Batterbee. Ministers of the Crown in Wellington, several members of Parliament, officials of the Public Works Department, Mrs. Semple, and women visitors from Australia. The work in the Ngahauranga Gorge is sufficiently advanced to show the improvement that is planned. It has been in progress about five months and is well ahead of schedule. Already since August some 360,000 yards of work and spoil have been excavated and pushed by mammoth bulldozers into valleys to make a comparatively straight highway through the former tortuous gorge. More than two-thirds of the work is now finished and the new highway will be ready for the opening of the Centennial Exhibition. Tlie party was able to pass through the gorge to Johnsonville. v Saving to Motorists.

After spending over an hour in inspecting the Ngahauranga work the party travelled over the new coastal road from Paremata to Paekakariki, a short stop being made at one of the encampments for morning tea. This road, Mr. Semple explained during one of the stops for inspection, would reduce the distance between Wellington and Paekakariki by 4<} miles, eliminate the 500 feet climb over the Paekakariki Hill and its 128 bends .and save motorists from £25,000 to £30,000 a year. The steepest grade on the new road is one in 17, which is better than any on the Paekakariki Hill. The outstanding feature of this deviation is the sea wall, three miles long. The heaviest section is 6400 feet long. Work is 12 months ahead of schedule and the road will be finished in November, before the opening of the exhibition. - The wall is the biggest in Australia or New Zealand, and the only one of its kind in the world. It has been constructed on a new principle, waves being forced back from the roadway. Mr. Semple said that local residents had said that a recent storm was the worst in 50 years, but it had not affected the wall in any way. Statements had been made before the work started that it would take seven years to build the wall, out the progress already made was the best answer to this criticism. Work Praised by Mr. Savage. The progress made with the Ngahauranga Gorge work since he was last there three weeks ago was referred to by Mr. Savage in an interview last evening. “There has 'been a wonderful transformation in the Ngsimuranga Gorge since my previous visit less than a month ago,” said the Prime Minister. “The progress made in so short a time is simply amazing. “It is six months since I have, been on the coastal road to Paekakariki, and the tremendous change that has taken place there is almost incredible. .Splendid progress has been made. ’ These new roads, including the HaywardsPaliautanui highway, will be a tremendous asset to Wellington in particular and the country as a whole. The present generation would never see these jobs completed if they were attempted by the old methods, and the progress that has been made reflects great credit on everybody associated with the undertakings.”