THE MAIN COUNTY ROAD.

Shannon News, 11 February 1927, Page 2

THE MAIN COUNTY ROAD.

WHY IT HAS BEEN SO ROUGH.

Complaints have been freely made of late about the roughness of the road between Waikanae and Otaki. For some months past a stretch, of seven or eight miles of this road has had a thick coating of loose shingle of large size, and motorists have had to plough their way through it. The stone on the road represents the base course for the bituminous penetration work which Horowhenua County has in hand over about 40 miles of its main roads. In other portions of the country, where the work has been completed, motorists have very fine surfaces indeed to travel over. From inquiries made it is gathered that Mr. Andersoh, the Horowhenua County engineer, is paying more attention to providing a first-class base course for his roads than almost any other county engineer in the Dominion. The soundness of the foundations thus augurs well for good surfaces of long life in Horowhenua.

The County aims at getting as much bitumen work as possible done this summer, and in consequence has run ahead as rapidly as' possible with its foundation work. From the roadmaking point of view it is quite good policy to put down the base course and leave the traffic to consolidate it. Against this there is, of course, the discomfort to road users during the process. It is gathered that Horowhenua >s present long stretch of loose stone — now better going than it was a while ago—is partly due to the fact that the County was relying on the loan of an extra road-roller from a neighbouring county, but when the time came the roller ovas. not available. While road users will have every sympathy with the desire of Horowhenua County to push on with the good work as rapidly as possible, it certainly seems desirable that such very long stretches of rough road should be avoided as faT as possible during reconstruction work in the various counties. The inconvenience to traffic is a factor that is worth consideration, and the Main Highways Board might very well stipulate that as a general thing that not more than a limited stretch of roadway shall be torn up at one time unless the circumstances are really exceptional and the saving in construction costs outweighs the inconvenience to traffic. —Dominion. Generally speaking, a very distinct improvement may bo noticed in the main highways within the Wellington Province. The standard is being raised and if the rate of progress appears to be somewhat slow it must be remembered that varying conditions are a retarding influence, and that making haste slowly is probably the surest way to improvements of a permanent nature. But while a certain amount or time is a reasonable concession the convenience of the travelling public in the interim calls for some consideration. In instances this consideration is not extended. A case in point is a considerable stretch of road in the vicinity of Waikanae and Te Horo on the other coast. There in the course of re-con-struction the road has been banked on either side to confine a generous coating of loose metal, without a scrap of. binding is being left for motor car traffic to consolidate. This process has apparently been going on for some time for a single track is somewhat worn down. But to pass another motorist is an ordeal for way has to be given in deep loose metal. As this road carries a constant stream of traffic it follows that the strain on cars and the depreciation of tyres constitutes a loss which it is utterly unreasonable motorists should be called on to bear. Id road construction work sueh as this it would be only a reasonable proposition to consolidate every mile (or at the most) two miles of road as it is put down. This should not affeot the progress of the work while it would bo a great consideration to the travelling public. In the Horowhenua County, in the vicinity of Levin, tar sealing work is being ‘carried out on this principle and a minimum of inconvenience is occasioned. The matter is one that should secure some attention from the Highways Board, a suggestion from which would possibly remedy the matter.—Eketahuna Express.