NO THROUGH TRAFFIC?

Sun (Auckland), Volume IV, Issue 1033, 25 July 1930, Page 9

NO THROUGH TRAFFIC?

gIRKENHEAD-ALBANY ROAD CLOSING COUNCIL’S ACTION Serious inconvenience to farmers «nil considerable dislocation of traffic ,n the Birkenhead-Albany Main Highly is likely to follow the closing of the Central portion of the road for exjveriniental concreting. \ woman correspondent, under the nom-de-plume of “A Victim,” writing on behalf of her husband, who is farming in the local' 1 ?'- has registered her protest agaiust the Waitemata County Council's impending action in the following letter to The Sun: j-’Tm given to understand that the Waitemata County Council intends losing the whole of the Albany-Bir-1-enhead Koad. which is the main high-,V-iv for a distance of one mile, for ,j‘' ’nurpose of laying concrete. The o to be closed for eight weeks, 'veginning. I believe, almost at once. This means that everyone living on J{ road within a distance of about miles will be completely cut off from service cars and carriers’ services mail and newspaper delivery, in a rural district this is very serious. T-nsiness people wishing to get to l ildaßd will «if they Use on the part f the road) be compelled to walk a of miles or so along a clay track the roadside—this in the wet seain—so that they may connect with Serv-lce-caes. People requiring large n n’itles of manure and produce will unable to get it and may perhaps a whole season's crops as a result surely, sir. this closing of a --hole road is against the law. Can ! ntepayers not force the council to io-e half of the road at a time? What will happen to the farmers whose milk i- collected along the portion ot the -way and people wishing to send; ‘produce to the marker ? All traffic will | L-„ to leave the main highway close ; th 9 Albany Post Office and rejoin ; the road near' the Cut Hill. They will . t n to travel over an unmetalled clay road— which quickly becomes impass- 1 hie after rain—thus cutting out tne above-mentioned four miles ot mam j Highway. A VICTIM. | COUNTY ENGINEER’S VIEWS j It is possible to carry out the work i S two halt-strips, but we arc not going to do it that way.” This was the comment with which the Waitemata County engineer, Mr. Murray, countered a query by a Sun reporter whether one half of the- : proposed concrete carriage-way could not first be completed and thrown open to traffic, before the paving of j the other side of the road was commenced. * .1 The full width of the road, 6bft. is j not to be closed; only a central strip ; ?tft wide, which is to be laid down ! as an experimental section to a width • of 18ft of concrete. j The officer was asked the necessity . of adopting this method ot' paving this arterial road when the general practice in paving main highways was to complete one side and then the other, thus keeping the route open for traffic during the work. Mr. Murray said: ”We have alreadytried putting down concrete in two half-strips and encountered considerable difficulty in rolling the halves before putting in the sand and cement.” The contractor anticipated completing the work in three weeks, [ he said, and the paving would require ableast another three weeks to set. When the difficulties of people living on properties abutting on to the section of road to be closed were mentioned, particularly their being compelled to walk distances from a mile to two miles to catch service cars, the engineer stated they would have to put up with the inconvenience for a short time. “There is not a hope in the world of our doing the work the other way,” he added. Those living along the line of the work would be able to obtain access to their properties by horse and cart along the sides of the road, which, he admitted, however, would be four feet deep with mud in a spell of bad weather. His advice to people requiring manures was to obtain supplies at once. IMPOSSIBLE TO CLOSE ROAD “I think it absolutely impossible to .lose the road to through traffic,” declared Mr. J. P. McPhail, Mayor of Birkenhead, when he was advised of the impending action by the Waiteraata County Council. He pointed out that as a main highway, the Birken-heau-Albany route carried a great deal of traffic from Dairy Flats and Silver dale. “I don't think the people would Aand for the road being closed to ihrough traffic, and those living at both rods would join in the protest.” Mr. McPhail agreed that the diversion of traffic on to another route would involve a considerable loss to Birkenhead tradespeople, as the business of those living on the main high-; wav and a sideroad leading oil' it, | would be largely diverted to Taka- j puna. He promised to institute im- ; mediate inquiries Into the plan.