RELIEVING CITY CONGESTION

Sun (Auckland), Volume IV, Issue 987, 2 June 1930, Page 10

RELIEVING CITY CONGESTION

AN attractive picture of the ideal shopping street—a busy yet quiet thoroughfare with ample space and encouragement for pedestrian and motorist alike—has been painted by Mr. A. J. » Hutchinson, who supports the proposal to provide a tram route ” to the western parts of Auckland via Albert Street. He visualises the Queen Street of the future as an area devoted to shopping and business, rather than a clattering, echoing, overcrowded transport alley, acting as a bottle-neck for the great majority of the suburban trams.

This view may be a long- one, but it is in the right direction, for the time has come when Auckland can no longer be regarded as a main-street city. As an arterial traffic route, Queen Street has more than reached the limit of its capacity. In the interests of swift and sane transport, of Auckland as a whole, and of the main street itself, relief is both desirable and necessary.

It is not surprising that certain interests should greet with hostility the proposal to divert a proportion of the Queen Street tramway traffic into Albert Street, for there is always the fear that such a move may extend the City shopping area. This movement, however, is inevitable. It is part and parcel of the City’s rapid growth, and its beginnings are already apparent. Queen Street is now and always will be the central point, attracting daily a multitude of shoppers and business people from every point of the compass, hut the adjacent shopping areas are attracting the overflow and the increased traffic burden must be shared.

It should be noted, that the proposal now before the Transport Board is by no means an extravagant one. Though the Chief Traffic Officer, Mr. G. R. Hogan, has in mind the ultimate elimination of trams from Queen Street and a consequent removal of the risks and difficulties that are apparent to the most casual observer in the main thoroughfare, he is willing to be content, in the meantime, with a more even distribution of traffic. The choice of Albert Street is a logical one. It offers immediate relief and, throughout its entire length, is within easy reach of Queen Street. Critics of the scheme who have approached the Transport Board have stressed certain disadvantages of this route, but the fact remains that they are unable to name a better one. They advocate a juggling of the existing traffic stream in Queen Street, but this cannot he accepted as a satisfactory alternative. The traffic authorities have proved by experience that congestion is unavoidable unless relief is provided.