Minister, Roads Board visit Bruce Road

Waimarino Bulletin, Volume 3, Issue 24, 5 November 1985, Page 2

Minister, Roads Board visit Bruce Road

Members of the National Roads Board and the Number Six District Council inspected the Bruce Road at Whakapapa recently to assess the need for proposed upgrading. The group consisted of 14 members from the National Roads Board, including Minister of Works and Development, Fraser Coleman, and the Director of Roading, Ron Fisher, and twelve members of the Number Six District Roads Board. The group was conducted over the road by Chief Ranger for Tongariro National Park, Bruce Jefferies, and park ranger, Paul Dale. Mr Dale said that although no positive decision was made to allocate money for the proposals, the members understood the problems. The proposals put forward by the Department of Lands and Survey and the Ministry of Works and Development are to upgrade the road by sealing it, widening it to seven metres with two lanes, and deviating through the park to remove

some corners ancT -shorten the road. Minister of Works and Development, Fraser Coleman, told the Bulletin after the tour that he fully appreciated the problems associated with the road and that the roads board would consider the proposal when annual estimates were discussed at its December meeting. "The board, in approving money for the upgrading, has got to determine how much money they've got for the next year in relation to works all over the country," he said. Paul Dale said it was hoped that the upgrading would be completed by the park's centenary in 1987. "We would like to get some of it started this summer, and that will give us an accurate forecasting of the amount of money needed to complete it," he said. Mr Dale said that all comments on the environmental report on the proposed deviation into the park, for which submissions closed recently, have been favourable.