The Grey River Argus TUESDAY, October 5, 1948. ROADING FOR HEAVY TRAFFIC

Grey River Argus, 5 October 1948, Page 4

The Grey River Argus TUESDAY, October 5, 1948. ROADING FOR HEAVY TRAFFIC

THE decision of the Main High- ■ ways Board to. put a stop to its work of scaling roads in the West-port-Nelson-Marlborough area, on account of extra heavy loads being thereon carried, raises an important' transport question. It has been recently reported, for instance, that at least one stretch' of road in the Buller district, serving for the transportation of open cast coal, has greatly deteriorated. Whether complaints in that case have involved sealing is not clear, but other users of Vnarlc nn -ivliinli +i»nnlra ,r.nvw nv.

ceptional loads are naturally going to complain if they cannot be maintained in reasonable order. The Main Highways Board’s decision is stated to be due to a practice by truck operators and haulage firms of carrying loads as great as eight and nine tons in the area in question, whereas the Board’s plan is to limit to five and a-half tons the axle load upon the roads which it builds and seals. The Board states that not only the Westport-Nelson roads, but all over the Dominion, sealed roads are breaking up because of continuous overloading. In the Wcstport-Nelson-Marlborough district truck operators arc endeavouring to prevent file Board from imposing its five and a-half ton limit, and it is presumably the Board’s answer when it announces that it will not -continue to seal roads in that particular area.

It is a policy question which might be viewed from' more than one standpoint. Is it prudent to have but one limit for the whole country? Where, for instance, the commodity to be transported is coal or timber, and there is no railway, it might be ultimately more economical from a national standpoint to build roads for

nine-ton loads. If the lower limit is rigid, one obvious effect must be to increase the cost of the material transported. Thus a calculation might be made as to whether it might ultimately be cheaper to build roading for the heavier axle load in localities where timber and coal are the principal freight. The Board

points out that if greater expenditure is involved on any road than required by the live and a-half ton limit, the lighter vehicle owners will be taxed to subsidise those with heavy trucks. It is said that, already ordinary motor cars and light farm truck owners are subsidising in taxation the vehicles taking five and a-half ton loads. Indeed, if the Board Avould make distinctions betavcen the weights of vehicles, there is already a degree of inequity which it is quite ready to continue. There is, of course, the further point that the construction ol : roads for eight or nine ,ton loads being more costly, would mean less new roading or less sealing. The ultimate question, again, must be whether the national interest is to be better served bv in-

VVI.VOL in LU uu UCLLVL DUIVUtI uy increasing provision for smaller loads over a greater area, or making, in some special localities, provision for the larger loads which make for transport ecoinomy. It appeal's to be a case for l the exercise of some degree of I discrimination. The heavier I vehicles could be made to contriibute in proportion to their size, and if there arc, as certainly [ would appear in the case of coal and timber, special reasons for expediting transport, the State could doubtless make an appro-

priate contribution. It is one thing to make a calculation of say the'mere number of vehicles being accommodated, and another thing entirely to give due consideration to the necessity of the commodities transported. Possibly there might be at least some compromise. Truck owners must recognise the wisdom of preserving the roads, especially if they face the loss of them as a result of excessive weights. There ought to be some degree of flexibility in the attitude of both parties. If urban road users must have everything apple pie, and farmers all must have roads for their trucks, the traffic in areas whence they all draw essential fuel and other material should have, appropriate facilities, even if these be more costly over a particular route.