TRAFFIC CONTROL AND PARKING

Press, Volume LXXIV, Issue 22424, 10 June 1938, Page 21

TRAFFIC CONTROL AND PARKING

EXHIBITION PROBLEMS IN WELLINGTON

COMPREHENSIVE PLAN TO BE FORMULATED [THE PRESS Special Service.) WELLINGTON. June 9. Next to accommodation, traffic control and the parking of cars will constitute one of the biggest problems of the Centennial Exhibition at Wellington Already a committee has been appointed by the exhibition authorities to consider the problem, and probable that soon a comprehensive plan will be laid before the Wellington City Council for its approval. The committee consists of representatives of all bodies concerned with bringing visitors to the exhibition ana getting them away again. On it are officials of the Railways Department the Wellington City Council, the Union Steam Ship Company, the Automobile Association, and the municipal traffic and tramways departments. Two major problems confront tne committee. The first is that of handling motorists who will visit the exhibition in numbers expected, at a very conservative estimate, to exceed 20.0UU, and the other is that of providing transport for pedestrian visitors. This will, of course, devolve on the tramway and bus services. Trams have often been criticised as slowing up the flow of traffic in crowded streets, but it has been amply demonstrated that there is no more efficient method of transporting large crowds of popple. The capacity of a tram-car is infinitely greater than that of an omnibus, and in large numbers trams are more convenient to handle, as they do not impede one another to the same extent as buses, so many buses being necessary to carry an equal number of passengers. Routes to Exhibition For motorists the first question to be considered will be that of routes to and from the exhibition. Last week’s air pageant showed that, if left to their own resources, most motorists would attempt to travel to and from Kilbirnie by way of the traffic tunnel, leaving other routes comparatively clear. A system of the diversion of traffic will therefore be necessary to ensure that each of the routes carries its full share of the traffic and also to prevent congestion in the city itself caused by many through travellers bound to, or from the Hutt Valley. Probably certain streets will have to be declared oneway streets, at any rate at certain hours. No comprehensive scheme can be put forward, however, until it has been decided what street improvements and alterations will be made and what routes will be available.

No less serious will be the problem of parking cars when they arrive at Kilbirriie. It is realised that side-street parking will not be satisfactory, as private citizens living in the neighbourhood can hardly be expected to put up with large-scale parking at their front gates for six months or so, with the nuisances of doors slamming and engines starting nightly at whatever hour the amusement park and the other popular attractions close down. Few Areas Handy The exhibition directors expect to set aside an area of about five acres actually on the exhibition site for parking. Level areas suitable for parking near the site are few. The principal ones belong to the Wellington Harbour Board, but it is understood that they will be placed at the disposal _,of the City Council during the exhibition. No doubt many local residents with space or vacant sections will earn a few pounds by opening unofficial parks, but that will absorb only a small part of the motor traffic expected.

Quite apart from the many Wellington and suburban people who will wish to drive to the exhibition, and many who will come from all parts of the North Island, all those who patronise the proposed motor camps to be established on the outskirts of Weir lington will certainly rely on their cars to bring them from the camps to Kilbirnie, for it is highly improbable that any suitable camping sites will be found handy to the exhibition site. However, the committee is considering these problems, and it is likely that in a ew weeks’ time a scheme will be formulated and plans laid for the handling of cars and people. When it is recalled that last ydar the test match crowd of about 40,000 people was dispersed from Athletic Park within half an hour of the close of the game without trouble and without congestion, it will be seen that the matter is mainly one of careful organisation, and by no means an insuperable obstacle.