"Worst stretch of road on State Highway One"

Waimarino Bulletin, Volume 1, Issue 18, 4 October 1983, Page 1

"Worst stretch of road on State Highway One"

The question of what the Natiorial Roads Board and the Ministry of Works Department planned to do about the stretch of road on State Highway One known officially as the Hihitahi Bluffs section but locally as the 'Mulvays Corner'. was again raised at last month's meeting of the Waiouru C o m mu n i t y A d v i s o r y Council. The meeting was told that the National Roads Board had underspdnt its allocation of funds nationally by $8 million. The estimated cost of •nstructing the Hihitahi f section ofS.H. I was in excess of $1.9 million. Several speakers at the meeting described this area. 12 kms south of Waiouru and 1 7 kms north of Taihape, as "the worst stretch of road between Auckland and Wellington" and "the most dangerous corners left on S.H. 1". They demanded that something be done about it before another fatality or serious accident occurred. Some speakers at the meeting explained that anyone familiar with this stretch of road was unlikely to get into trouble ... the danger arose when high speed main road traffic and unwary drivers ignored the signs at either end of these two corners. At a previous meeting of the W.C.A.C it had been decided to compile a set of

statistics to Support the case whichthe Wanganui UnitedCouncil was preparing to present to the NRB. These statistics were to be drawn from records kept by the Ministry of Transport, Automobile Association, police. Ministry of Works Department, insurance companies. hospitals, doctors. coroners. tow-away firms and the Army Training Group at Waiouru which might have been involved in the recovery of some of the vehicles. At last month's meeting it was reported that these figures were still coming in. However. a spokesman for the insurance companies pointed out that they do not keep a central file recording the geographical sites of accidents, so nothing could be expected from that source. Another speaker mentioned that the Army involvment fn the recovery of vehicles from the Hihitahi Bluffs was 'surprisingly low' and explained that this was probably due to Mulvay's telephone — from which most emergency calls were made — was connected to the Taihape rather than the Waiouru exchange. The army must also not be seen to be competing with private commercial enterprise, said the spokesman. They would only respond to a call from commercial operators when the task was beyond their own recovery vehicles.