The Guardian (And Evening Star, with which is incorporated the West Coast Times.) FRIDAY. MAY 2nd, 1924. ROAD CONSTRUCTION.

Hokitika Guardian, 2 May 1924, Page 2

The Guardian (And Evening Star, with which is incorporated the West Coast Times.) FRIDAY. MAY 2nd, 1924. ROAD CONSTRUCTION.

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In the recent conference of civil engineers at Dunedin one of the speakers said lie believed the problem of road construction was tlie biggest- the country would have to face. Then” Mere large and very conflicting interests involved—the railways, the user*? of vehicles, and the coUnty councils. personally, the .speaker considered the motorists had to pay for the miitls provided, no matter what that cost might ho. Motor tritflie was to some extent a luxury,‘and the country was not yet sufficiently developed to enable it to pay for a complete equipment or roads; Ft was going to he a diliiciilt matter to get a big proportion of the county councils to see beyond their own interests-, and that was hardly to he wondered at. He was persuaded that to m»ke a success of the Main Highways Act the principal roads should lie completed whether the local bodies concerned could pay their share dr iibt. Tlie recent railway strike lias demonstrated that motor traffic was most useful in combatting the - great inconvenience caused by tlie strike, hut while there was relief from anxiety in regard to supplies and urgent transport of passengers and mails, there was the serious aspect of the very groat damage done to the roads by the abnormal traffic. In some of the more populous districts, the daninge resultant from tlie heavy motor trnlfio was altogether surprising, though it Initf confirmed the experience of war time when railway running was restricted, and motor traffic filled the breach by supplying deficiencies. Indeed that was the occasion which gave motor traffic its effective start in competition with the railways. The position was further accentuated by the railway “cut’ 1 of some time ago, for economy purposes. The result was that what the railway might have saved nationally by the reduced services, the loss was the greater because of the more extreme damage to the roads. So with the present use of motors. Services have been established which will compete more and more with the railways, which means greater use of the roads by vehicles the weight and speed of which try the road surface so severely. It lias to be borne in mind that very few of tlie roads in daily use were constructed specially for motor traffic—particularly the heavier kind. There is also the fact- to be remembered that the liettor the roads for inoTor traffic, the more they will lie used—and the heavier the loads. At the Dunedin Conference one of the civil engineers advanced the opinion that- pot-holes, which appeared so readily on roads used for motor traffic, were due to speed and wide tyres. With slower moving wide tyres have lieen hold usually to be the saving of roads, but it would appear that when speed is a factor also, the wider the tyres, 1 the greater the road damage. There : was - very little said in the reported : discussion at the Conference to deter- , 1 mine remedial measures. Much was | hoped from the operation of tlie High- .] way? „\csj onco the yariops Councils '

took up their duties in a practical way. Referring to maintenance of roads, one of the speakers spoke briefly of his experience in regard to tarred macadam, which he asserted held up traffic exceedingly well. This class of work lias been suggested for this district, and it would he well to follow up tho matter hv the local bodies acquiring all the information they could on the subject. The Coast roads are subject to so much scour with wet weather, that it. is highly essential to pay special attention to the road surfaeo as a necessary preliminary to good roads or better.