AUCKLAND WATERFRONT

Sun (Auckland), Volume IV, Issue 1080, 18 September 1930, Page 1

AUCKLAND WATERFRONT

Great Changes Effected BOARD’S DEVELOPMENT SCHEME Grouping of Industries in Areas DURING the past three years great changes have taken place on the Auckland waterfront. They are all part of the Harbour Board scheme of development which now shows signs of completion. Ultimately the waterfront will be easily the most up-to-date and convenient of any in New Zealand.

Various industries and activities associated with shipping and the sea will be grouped in definite areas and much valuable space near the heart of the City will be made available for other commercial activities. For instance, it is the aim of the Harbour Board at some future date to establish its workshops and repair shops on a reclaimed area on the eastern reclamation off Campbell’s Point. : This will allow the present site near ! the old dock site to be leased for com- j mercial purposes. Other proposals, which become more : concrete as the years pass, are that all those engaged in the fishing industry be accommodated at the eastern end of the eastern reclamation, also off Campbell's Point. At present accommodation for fishermen is divided between the western reclamation and the Nelson Street Wharf. Provision is also expected to be made at some definite place for all small vessels carrying shingle and sand. COMPLETION OF VIADUCT The ever-changing waterfront has altered much more rapidly during the last 12 months and in the next ,12' months even greater changes than ever will be made. By that time the western reclamation will have been finished and the viaduct will be carrying an endless stream of vehicles and clanking rakes of railway trucks. Dredging ou the western reclamation is expected to stop next month. Silt is still pouring on to the area, hut the deposit from the dredge is ! only filling in a little of the lower j levels. Altogether there are 23 acres in the area. IS of which will be available far building purposes. The roading programme for the western reclamation has already been arranged. Roads will continue on from the Freeman’s Bay area and railway lines will run across from their terminus on the viaduct to the Birkenhead vehicular ferry. This will allow rakes of trucks to be shunted right across the width of the reclamation for the accommodation of goods for merchants and oil companies. Ultimately, another wharf will jut out into the harbour from the end of the western reclamation, providing still more accommodation for the increased shipping of the port- When this and other improvements will be completed depends, apparently, on the spending power of the Harbour Board, which so far has not given any indication of when it will authorise the continuation of the work. Several railway sidings will be laid down at the junction of the viaduct with the Freeman’s Bay reclamation. These will enable the oil companies whose depots are situated there to have their own lines direct from the tanks. It will be possible, in the future, for the oil companies to fill their oil-tank wagons from ihe pipe lines in very quick time without all the present inconvenience of transhipment. Such provision will make Auckland the most convenient and up-to-date port in New Zealand for the handling of oil cargoes.

Work on the viaduct has gone ahead splendidly and only a small gap now separates the two ends of it. Tenders are being called for the lifting bridge, and this should be under way by Christmas time. row of piles has still to be driven; this will not be done until they are absolutely necessary. PROVIDING FOR EVERYTHING Every contingency seems to hava been provided for in the western section of the viaduct. Expansion joints at intervals along its surface explain themselves. They are like two sets of iron teeth fitted into each other and allow for the concrete to expand and contract according to the weather. Similar intricate mechanism has been conceived for joining the railway lines at these expansion joints. Raker piles have been placed in position at regular intervals. These are driven after the surface of the viaduct is finished. They go down at an angle and are there to absorb -‘he lateral shock should any vessel heavily bump the side of the viaduct when berthing there. A curb will run down the length of the viaduct to keep the pedestrian and vehicular traffic off the railway lines. The surface will be asphalted by the ; time the viaduct is completed. Over 600 tons of reinforcing steel i will have been use! by the time the western section of the ■viaduct is finI ished. Every pile, as in all the other Harbour Board projects, bears the i date on which it was made. A training pier has been erected c>u the harbour side of the gap betweeu the two sections of the viaduct. This will allow boats approaching the gap to rest against it and glide through without bumping the sides. Slower progress has been made at the reclamation work at the eastern end of the waterfront. A considerable area around the Akarana Boating Club's buildiag has been filled to the required level and spoil is being tipped into the area behind the retaining wall, which eventually will be extended as far along as the Devonport vehicular ferry. WORK AT EASTERN END The board’s programme, conceived some years ago, provides for the eventual filling in of Mechanics’ Bay, but when this will be done Is not definite. Now that provision for yachtsmen has been made In St. Mary’s Bay boat harbour, there is a ; likelihood that the work will be pushed ahead a little faster. In all probability the suction dredge will be working inside the eastern tide deflector some time next month, pouring spoil into the area behind the retaining wall. This will hasten the work of reclamation at the eastern end of the waterfront. By the time all the reclamation work is finished Auckland's waterfront will be practically a straight line from the western to the eastern reclamation, broken only by the wharves jutting out into the stream.