Miro Street narrowed

Ruapehu Bulletin, Volume 11, Issue 523, 15 February 1994, Page 7

Miro Street narrowed

It would have cost more than $40,000 extra to keep Miro Street at 10 metres wide along the Wye Street - Shannon Street section, the Waimarino Community Board was told last Thursday. Technical services director Bruce Dobson told the board that it had been decided to reduce the road to 8.5m on the section being reconstructed, to save spending extra on the project after it was found that the water main was too shallow and a large amount of swamp material had to be dug out. At 10m wide the kerb on one side would have been above the water main and replacing the main would have cost $40,000, he said.

New subdivision rules stated urban streets had to be 8m wide, so the street would still be legally wide enough, he said. "There was no justification for spending an extra $40,000 on the project," he said. Asked if it was normal to test drill road works siteS to see what the subsoil was, Mr Dobson said only if they suspected there was something wrong. He said test drilling would add 10-15 percent onto the total cost of the project. "Drilling wouldn' t have meant a cheaperjob - we would still have had to dig it out. Why spend 15 percent extra when you're not going to save any money?"