SCENIC DRIVE

Evening Post, Volume CXXII, Issue 36, 11 August 1936, Page 11

SCENIC DRIVE

WEST COAST HIGHWAY

EXPENDITURE OF £500,000

An expenditure of £500,000 is pro posed by the Government for the construction of a highway over. the.Haast Pass, connecting Westland with "Otago and opening up what will unquestionably be one of the finest scenic drive* in the world. :*';- ■'■,'■

Of this sum £250,000 has been voted for work on the road from Bruce Bay to the Haast River on the Westland side, and £250,000 to complete the rdad in Otago from the Haast River over the Haast Pass to Makaroa, where it will join up with the existing highway. The estimates of cost include provision for the erection .of bridges and the construction of a road" to highway standard. , .. ■ .

At present 120 men, are working" oa the road in South Westland, and1 it is proposed .to. place an additional fifty men on the job immediately. It is also proposed to place 150 men on the work on the Otago side.

When this road is completed, it will offer an unrivalled tourist route, and travellers, will be able to do a round tour of the South Island, beginning at Picton and travelling via Nelson and Westland to the Franz Josef glaciers, and then over the HaastPass-to the cold lakes of Otago, returning north via the east coast of the South Island. A proposal has also been made to link up the Haast Pass Eoad with the Milford Eoad at Hollyford Valley, but this has not yet been decided upon,' work in the ■ meantime being concentrated on th*e first objective of providing a road that will traverse the South Island and save tourists the necessity of retracing their steps at- any point. The bridging of the rivers in South Westland north of Bruce Bay ?is at present in hand. ..'.-■