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Improvements to surfacing were also carried out on various lengths of the Napier - Palmerston North Highway, including the reconstruction and sealing of 1J miles near Dannevirke and 4§ miles of road-mix treatment near Waipawa. A total of 121 miles resealing was undertaken in the district. A 23 chain deviation was constructed on the Nuhaka-Waikokopu Highway to avoid unstable ground, and a 15 chain deviation, with two major stream diversions, on the Dannevirke-Waipukurau Highway. As has been so frequently the case, the highways of No. 6 District (Taumarunui) suffered severely from floods in the spring, the worst damage being in the Awakino Gorge and on the Raurimu Hill. The necessary repairs have been made. The reconstruction of a 5 mile unsealed gap on the State highway between Hangitiki and Te Kuiti has been commenced. Four miles of maintenance sealing has been applied, also a short length of new seal in the Mapiu Township. The Taranaki district undertook a heavy resealing programme for the year, covering 41 £ miles in all, of which two-thirds was incurred on State highways and the balance carried out by the local authorities. Flood-damage restoration and bridgerepair work, including the redecking of the Mohakatino Bridge, near Mokau, were also attended to. The chief construction works in progress in the Wanganui district are the Bulls Bridge and the reconstruction of 4 miles of the State highway between Bulls and Greatford. On the latter the formation was 86 per cent, complete at 31st March and the metalling 40 per cent. The contract for the substructure of the Bulls Bridge had, at the above date, reached the stage where all piles had been driven and steel placed in seven piers and partly in the eighth. Falsework and staging were in position to the eleventh pier, and all steel bent to shape. Twenty-two miles of maintenance sealing was applied in this district during the year. Apart from ordinary maintenance and several bridge and formation items, work in the Wellington districts (Nos. 9 and 10) was almost entirely confined to the reconditioning and improvement of sealed surfaces, of which 40 miles were treated in No. 9 District and 16J in No. 10. The pavement was widened by 4 ft. over If miles between Sanson and Bulls and a light plant-mix coat applied for the full width. Similar work was carried out on a mile length near Palmerston. Sub-grade as well as surface repairs, due to damage by military traffic, were carried out over 6 miles between Foxton and Himatangi. Extensive repairs to the 1,060 ft. Lower Gorge Bridge over the Manawatu River have been completed. Twelve chains of the deviation south of the new Whirokino Bridge was formed and metalled, to check wind-erosion. On the Longburn-Tangimoana Highway the 165 ft. Oroua Bridge was erected. The remetalling of the 7 mile Foxton-Shannon Highway, necessitated by detour traffic by-passing the Whirokino Bridge, was completed. An 8-chain deviation in Shannon Borough was formed and metalled. A surfaceman's cottage has been erected at the State Highway Depot at Otaki. A contract has been let for the construction of the 217 ft. Ngawapurua Overbridge near Woodville, and the erection of the 220 ft. Tutaekara Bridge over the Mangatainoka River is in progress. The 55 ft, Cemetery Bridge at Mauriceville has been completed.

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