TRAMWAY SHORT CUT

Dominion, Volume 33, Issue 186, 3 May 1940, Page 8

TRAMWAY SHORT CUT

Excavating Gang Moves East IN BOWEN STREET NEXT WEEK Traffic will now have to take the corner of Wellington Terrace and Bowen Street more carefully than hitherto, for the asphalt paving between the northern end of The Terrace and what was Museum Street has been encroached upon by the excavating gang working on the western shortcut tramway. Furthermore, by the end of next week lower Bowen Street also will be the scene of active operations. . On the new western access road itself the construction of the double tracks is within sight of completion. The last of the weldjng of the rails round the big bend will be done within a few days, and the concrete gangs are following up. A good deal of concrete work is required on this job, as the total width of the track formation is 16 feet. As concrete soon shatters under continuous vibration a space of about three inches is left-on each side of the rails. After the concrete bed is set and the boxing removed, this space is filled with fine hot-mix, which has been found to be the best material to. protect the concrete from vibration The new road is said to include the longest bend in the whole of Wellington’s tramway system, covering a greater distance of curved track than the Horseshoe Bend, higher up on the Karori line, or any of the bends on Crawford Road. The bend practically commences at a point opposite the Seddon Memorial, and continues to within a few chains of Wellington Terrace, nearly a half-circle, the whole of which is on an appreciable grade. When these tracks are complete and connected up with the existing lines in Tinakori Road and Lambton Quay, and the new road is permanently surfaced (probably next summer) and lighted with sodium vapour lamps, this part of the city will have undergone a transformation. It is fortunate, after the long delays, that this work should have been put iu hand last year- for had it been delayed much longer it might have been deferred indefinitely on account of the war. As it is, all the material necessary for the work has been available, and residents of the western suburbs will benefit by the new short-cut this coming winter. A considerable task still awaits the City Corporation in Improving the appearance of the bare clay banks of the old cemetery, which are at present rather unsightly.