TWO GREAT HIGHWAYS

Wairarapa Times-Age, 6 November 1939, Page 3

TWO GREAT HIGHWAYS

NGAHAURANGA GORGE AND COASTAL ROAD. OPENED ON SATURDAY LAST. (By Telegraph—Press Association.) WELLINGTON, This Day. Two of the greatest events in the history of New Zealand road development were celebrated on Saturday with the official opening of the Ngahauranga Gorge Road and the Plim-nierton-Paekakariki Coastal Road. The former was said by the Engineer-in-Chief of the Public Works Department. Mr J. Wood, to be the boldest piece of road location attempted by the Main Highways Board. It is the one highway in New Zealand with four traffic lanes, .two each for opposing lines of traffic, separated by a raised, planted strip. The earthwork removed in construction was 600,000 cubic yards and the cost of this side of the work, £885.460. The whole work took a year. With the new coastal road travellers will return to almost the identical route they followed 100 years ago. The opening was, therefore, an apt precentennial ceremony. Work started in September, 1936, and since then nine miles of modern 30 feet wide highway have been completed; the rest of th< road, one mile 27 chains, is in the final stages, sealing being the principal work yet to be done. The new road is four miles shorter than the old one over the famous Paekakariki Hill, where a military road was completed in. 1848 during the fighting against the Maori chief, Rangihaeata. Appropriately, a leading Maori of the district, Mr H. D. Bennett, unveiled a commemorative tablet to the builders of the road at Saturday's gathering. The road has great historical interest; before 1848 all travellers, Maori and pakeha, used the coastal route which lay very close to the latest road. Expenditure to date on the road has been £350,000; the estimate for the whole work is £480,000.

Both opening ceremonies were performed by the Minister of Public Works, Mr Semple, whose department carried out the work. Mrs Semple cut the ribbons stretched across both highways. The Minister of Finance, Mr Nasrf, the Minister of Defence, Mr Jones, the Mayor of Wellington, Mr Hislop, and chairmen and representatives of every local body in the district, as well as members of Parliament, were present.

The routes were bedecked with flags. In Johnsonville, Girl Guides, Boy Scouts and school children lined the streets, waving flags. Overhead, for night use, were coloured lamp decorations.