PERMANENT ROADING.

Auckland Star, Volume LIV, Issue 132, 5 June 1923, Page 6

PERMANENT ROADING.

THE MOUNT EDEN PROPOSALS. LOAN PRINCIPLE AFFIRMED. Tlic proposals submitted to the Mount Eden Borough Council for concreting the carriage way of Me. Eden Road and Dominion Road were considered at a special meeting of the Council last evening, the deputy-Mayor, Mr. W. H. Nagle presiding. A report on the financial position was read by the chairman, stating that the amount necessary for the scheme, together with interest and sinking fund for the first year, and initial expenses totalled £SO,OOO. The annual charge involved under the scheme would be £0700, being an increase of £3994 on the present annual charge of maintaining the roads. Mr. Nagle said that the conditions of many portions of the main roads led the Council to think that the amounts at present expended were not enough to do justice to the needs of the highways under present conditions; but certain strips of permanent formation in bitumen had been laid down, largely in Dominion Road, necessitated by the duplication of the tram track from St. Albans Avenue to the terminus. The scheme would be subject to financial fluctuations that might alter materially the aspect of the whole work from a financial point of view. The interest bill for the Borough's indebtedness was now £16,000 and absorbed 40' per cent of the rates. Already the indebtedness of the Borough exceeded a quarter of a million, being, in fact, j;2(j8,550. •An alternative proposal was submitted by the engineer, Mr. J. Rogers, at the request of the Mayor providing for bituminous concrete. This process, he explained, required, where possible, a stone foundation, with a four-inch thickness of blue metal which would be mixed with boiling bitumen. The mixture was placed in position while hot and rolled. A surface one inch thick consisting of bitumen, shingle and metal in equal quantities would be spread over this to take the traflie wear. The total cost of" this work would be £40,328; and special plant would entail an additional expenditure of £3500. The wearing qualities of bituminous concrete, said the engineer, were almost equal to cement concrete. In the discussion that followed the chairman said that the second scheme j meant an increased rate of 2Ad., whereas , tiie increase required by the first would be 4Jd. C"r. Brvden moved that the proposals be deferred for six months. He thought that immediate attention should be given to certain urgent works, after which the concreting scheme could be put in hand. Cr. Joll moved an amendment that the Council affirm the necessity of dealing with the two main roads by loan to provide for construction in permanent material. The amendment was carried; and the form of ■construction deferred for consideration until the next meeting.