NEED FOR BRIDGE

Sun (Auckland), Volume III, Issue 834, 30 November 1929, Page 5

NEED FOR BRIDGE

TAKAPUNA AFFIRMS PRINCIPLE “VITAL TO PROGRESS” The principle that a harbour bridge was vital to the progress and development of Takapuna was affirmed last evening at a meeting of Takapuna residents. Mayor, Mr. J. W. Williamson, presided, and was supported on the platform by members of the council and Messrs. Greville and Ashdown, chairman and secretary, respectively, of the Harbour Bridge Association. Mr. Williamson said the Bridge Commission was the most important commission of ineiuiry that had yet sat in Auckland. He said that the considered opinion of the Takapuna Borough Council was that the Government should be liable for one-half the cost of construction, on account of the bridge being destined to become an integral part of the main highways system. The construction of the bridge would check the exodus of population from the North Shore to the Southern districts of the city. This feature had been obvious for some years past. Mr. Williamson said that many of the States in America had built bridges that were operated on the toll system, and all had proved very profitable, one in particular returning 300 per cent, over and above the most optimistic expectations. Mr. R. H. Greville said that figures to be produced before the commission would show that the peak-load of traffic today was beyond the ability of the vehicular fleet to handle satisfactorily. A tally taken last Anniversary Day disclosed that in the peakhour the boats transported 180 vehicles one way in one hour. This was an average of three a minute, whereas the requirements on, say, Grafton Bridge, would be nearer three a second. Mr. Greville paid a tribute to the present-day vehicular ferry service, describing it as admirable. However, this very fact was a hindrance to progress, inasmuch as it was merely a magnified form of the obsolete punt system of negotiating waterways. Mr. Greville said there were 233 toll bridges in the United States, and these averaged 11 per cent, net profit after all charges had been met. In conclusion, the speaker said he was glad to be able to report that the bridge association had the active support of the Auckland Automobile Association and its 12,000 members. Messrs. A. H. Wilkie, J. Guiniven and H. L. Titchener also spoke in support of the project, and the resolution stressing the vital necessity of a bridge was carried unanimously.