SYDNEY’S BRIDGE

Hokitika Guardian, 19 August 1924, Page 1

SYDNEY’S BRIDGE

PREPARING THE WAY. SYDNEY, July L’d. The iliou-ands nl people "Ini have hi-en aei-ii'llimed lor year- to approach the cilv from lln- Xorlliern Suburbs byway ol Hi.- historic landing place ol Mil-mi's Point. on the north side, fivm whieli tla- principal line ol ferries has run on a .six-minute service, th. actual crossing i.-i-eupyiny four minutes, have had the reality ol the impending changes due to the construct ion of the bridge' brought home to them, this weak hy the closing of the old paint. From the water to-day Mils,m’s Point, -o long the busiest suburban traltie -not in Sydney, with I, i-rii-s ply illy to it at regular intervals over the "hole twenty-four hours. --von dav- a w.-ek. pie-ents a lorlorn aspect if desertion, and the rush ol packed lorry hunts makes it way. int » :i i! *\v piMioou Living a<vi*ss id a iiotv Murti'.fin siilmrus railway terminus and tram urminus some hundreds of yari’i- further to the north oil the side is Lavender Lay. The change ha- bet :i m-ees-nry to clear the way for the bridge approach, the old -Milsou's Point terminus being on part ol tl-.e land required lor tin- great temper arv wi rksliips that tiro about to he coii-trueied hv the .untraelors. Messrs Dorman. Long ami Co. s-o the lace of Svdncy start- to change, and from now onwards the change will he rapid. Th c clang ol -teal works will soon he heard, and when ii coa-es tlm mirth shore will I---, to all intents and purposes, part of tin- i-iiv proper. Already the City Council i- giving serious attention to costly oh.owe- in traffic arteries. involvim.- big resumption-, which nnt-i he ready immediately the bridge is opened to lradio. Before then some sections of the- city underground railway. whieli i- being rapidly pushed forward, will lie running, so that the new street arrangements require great forethought in ascertaining exactly wliieh avenues the main traffic flows will take. lo any circumstances the costs to the City Council will run iut-i hundreds of thousands. The change-

over of the Alilson’s Point traffic was a triumph of organisation, tens of thousands of people being transported from the new landing stage on .Monday morning without a hitch. The railway station is on a level with the pontoon, being situated on a narrow strip of land between the water and a high i-lilf. so that all the train passengers have to do is to walk front the station on to the pontoon. AYitli the tram passengers it is different. They have to mount the high cliff, anil to facili-

tate this the Government has installed three of the most modern escalators, or moving stairways, which are the week's talk of Sydney.. Escalators have been installed in some of the big stores before to-day. hut nothing of such dimensions as those now in use lias been seen here before, and ‘■escalating” is popularly known a--Sydney’s new joy-ride. “Are \ou escalating home now-’” is a common query amongst northern suburbanites, and the trip on the long, moving stairways packed with humanity in the rush hours, seems to he a distinct clement of pleasure in the daily round of great numbers of people. There are three escalators, and, being revets ihlc, two can he run down and one up in the morning rush, and two up and one down in the evening rush. There are also two spacious fixed stairways for people who may have a jvrojuilice against the novelty, and still not confess themselves “aged or infirm,' for which class of person a passenger lift has been installed, ihe lift has hut limited •accommodation, unit it was a happy inspiration of tho j authorities to announce that it was intended for the “aged and infirm." It has not yet been overcrowded.