EVANS BAY ROAD IMPROVEMENTS

Dominion, Volume 32, Issue 151, 22 March 1939, Page 10

EVANS BAY ROAD IMPROVEMENTS

Work On Last Section Of Seawall MAJOR TASK NEAR KIO POINT One of the finest permanent improvements likely to come out of the special works undertaken because of the Centennial Exhibition in Wellington is the widening of the Evans Bay Road to an even 40 feet, as compared with the

original 20 feet carriageway. One of the trickiest sections of the road to tackle was the stretch between the Patent Slip and the Kilbirnie Recreation Ground, as along the greater pant of this beach line were numerous boat-houses and yacht skids, which came within a few feet of the old road line. At one time one member of the city council said that the task was a vain one, as they would never be able to deal with so many shed-owners or lessees, who did not want to move, and who would use every means in their power to delay the work. That assumption proved to be erroneous. Almost from the first the owners of the sheds were able to perceive that eventually they would be the gainers, and such has proved to be the case. They have not only been given-better access to their sheds—and in some cases the work has meant providing better sheds —but also the whole of the waterfront has been cleaned up by the construction of a concrete retaining wall, embodying a two-level footpath on the seaward side, and a broad footpath on the harbour side of the road. The last section of the. seawall, between the slip and the cricket ground, is being built this week, which means that all that has now to be done is to work the steam roller over the filling and then apply an asphaltic surface to both the extra strip of road and the footpath. What is better, the work has been done, with a minimum of bickering or hard feeling of any kind. Indeed, in one part of the bay the city engineer, after encroaching on the beach, promised that another and a better beach would be provided, and to that end contrived to place on the spot some dozens of cartloads of pure sand, which has adapted itself nicely to the situation, with the result 'that the beach is more inviting than ever, and the widened road above boasts a footpath. These improvements have caused values to rise in properties facing the Evans Bay Road in that vicinity. The biggest work yet remains to be done. It will probably take the rest of the year to build the quarter mile of high retaining wall between the Union Steam Ship Company’s laundry property and Kio Point. There is no chance of widening this 20-foot bottle-neck from the landward side, as the bank rises almost perpendicularly to a height of 50 or 60 feet. Thus the road has to be widened by the construction of a stout concrete wall some 25 feet outside'the edge of the present roadline. Permission to do this has been granted by the Harbour Board and the plans are well under way. The rest of the road northward does not call for much attention, save for the super-elevation of the curves, which is now being attended to.