MAIN HIGHWAYS BOARD.

Auckland Star, Volume LVI, Issue 184, 6 August 1925, Page 4 (Supplement)

MAIN HIGHWAYS BOARD.

<"» SOME OF ITS ACTIVITIES. ,( ' ASSISTANCE BY MOTORISTS. -"■ '"' TOTAL OF £040.000 A YEAR. j M><* I H' ( By M. H. WYNYARD, Motoring Hi'" Representative on the Board.) (in ■ ><M The Main Highways Act has, with its ( t corollary statute, the Motor Vehicles ''" Act. provided assured finance towards "''' , maintenance and construction of main "ii roads, where before assistance was deHhM pendent on desultory and unconnected H prants or subsidies 'from the Public Works Department. "' ' " The Public Works Amendment Act of ii<> 1!>24 also provided further funds to local Mi I*4 bodies for road maintenance purposes. and at the present time tho contribii- __*- tions made by the motoring interests J_W? towards roads in New Zealand (against „ji i n 1022) amount approximately to w £t>40.000 a year, a sum which properly ™w, expended, with its accompanying contriJ ■ btitions from local bodies, should cn- |- ablo a considerable difference to __ be 4 made in the main road system of New b> Zealand. The funds administered by _ tho board may be grouped thus: — * r A Year. k. Custom tTro dtitv under Section 14 4 r of the Main Highways Act. ltt- £150,000 k, Kegistration and license fees under k the Motor Vehicles Act, lO'-M ... £250,000 fc £400,000 *l. This sum all goes to the Main _ ™ Highways Board, and with £200.000 overstnicture account and £35.000 f on revenue account received from .- the Government, constitute the |f spending funds of the board. "."_ In addition, analyses of the registration indicate that the returns from lorry license under the Tubla lie Works Amendment Act, 1924. A to fro to local boards for ruain- ~ ki tenance, will reach £240,000 4 k Making the total of £040,000 4 Through Connections Made. »gf" The board has given special attention 1 during its first year of existence to " jj " . linking up unmetalled portions of the ■j ■ main highways on proper grades and !. ■ alignments, and of a type suitable to the 5_ ' traffic to be borne. The existence of its ■■ j funds enabled certain works to be ■■ . speeded up and others long delayed to _. _ be undertaken, and the effectiveness of ■ ; " its attention to this phase is indicated ■■ « by the fact that for the first time there j" J exists to-day a metalled road connect-. _m ■ ing the two principal cities of the jjß _ North Island, the two gaps (at Rangi■X > riri and Awakinol having been comJ S pleted within a week of one another. In _m ■ addition, the stretch near Motumaoho, _i a on the Hamilton-Te Aroha Road, which ■«i ■ was impassable during last winter, has, I" ! with the assistance of the board's sub-. ■■ i sidy, been metalled, and is available JJ J this year. In the north the notorious i■ ■ Wheka Valley lias none of the terrors j' ■ it had in the past, as the base coat of a■ ■ metal on this erstwhile winter quagmire Ii ■ has been laid. The same remarks apply J' _ to the Kaipara Flats —Warkworth higha■ ■ way, connecting the main north railway " J , ' line with tho Mahuraugi harbour, and ■ • _\ work is proceeding also on the Mangakahia Gorge, in widening and metalling this import-ant artery of the north. -a iri Authority has also been given and J__ [jj arrangements .made with the local jj rrJ bodies concerned for the metalling- early _ IfJ next year of the two incomplete secnl tions on the Pokeno-Pacroa highway, "H Lr which will give an all-the-year outlet to n_] [\m the rich country in the Thames Valley _D n, and Hauraki Plains and the district beH.j. yond. to the joint benefit of those dis- ■_--.— tricts and the City of Auckland. "0 $• The sum of is also down for JJ expenditure next season on the Mamaku gri.a. Hill Road, which will be regraded and j{ n aligned and metalled with rhyolite as "_ <r a base coat, to be followed later if, and HD W when circumstances warrant it, by a ■Q _\, harder surface. _ _■. The Far North. HD-vS" The outstanding need at the present 4] B- time, so far as the Auckland district is pi n. concerned, is a continuous metalled road j. \T suitable for traffic, winter and summer, tI tr connecting Auckland .with the North. •_] tr' From Maungaturoto northwards arjn iU raugements are in hand that will in a n cl comparatively short time give a good "J* surface road right up to the apex of U B" the north arterial highway system at 41 8" Waipapakauri. But there is nothing de--41 B- finite as to the connection with that j] n. system between Auckland and Maunga_l _• turoto. There is a metalled road (alj{ j£ most) to Wainui, but beyond that little —i CT in the way of metal, and a good deal _ ft 1 of bad grading and alignment. The 41 9" board is having a report prepared on ___" the best line to adopt, with a view to jj_m laying down a programme of construcfljL tion for the whole work, extending jjj-jw probably over a term of years, for this ; *S connection, so that the worst portions may be attended to first, and all operaft tions be carried out in accordance with fIS the plans adopted, instead of working v -Sj piecemeal -without a definite end in fr| R view. A similar course is being adopted sVfc in respect to the unmetalled sections on sjjS the Central Highway between Auckland ls}.;Qj and Wellington, which is some S6 milees *fr fc. shorter than the No. 1 Highway through &C Taranaki, and which also connects with the road to the National Park and (I Taupo districts in' the centre of the »jW island. »>v One of the principal matters on which S the board places the greatest emphasis <4 jX is ;he im]>rovement of maintenance on h» the roads throughout tho Dominion. This applies equally to the South Island as is? Jj* to t!l ° X " M ' 1 a,lf l there is no doubt that a local bodies must adapt themselves to systems more attuned to the changed ts > conditions. The hoard is fortunate in S having as their engineer Mr. A. Tvndall, \| a man to whom this need is very real atld wbo l, y l»s study of road control

ON THE ROTORUA-WHAKATANE ROAD,

and maintenance abroad prior to his appointment to the board, is in the best position to advise local bodies as to the best class or nature of maintenance to adopt to suit particular conditions. There are counties in New Zealand where maintenance is of a high and economical order, but it must be admitted that they are the exception rather than the rule, and that education in this direction is not only advisable but very necessary to preserve and improve the capital expenditure represented by the .improved roads of the country. A statement made by the Victorian Country Roads Board is very pertinent. It stated that proper maintenance not only maintained but improved the roadways, and with such maintenance a road was everlasting. In addition the funds of the board would give better results by the better maintaining that would exist with a comparatively limited expenditure than in devoting the same money to a high-class expensive pavement on a short length. To seekers after such pavements for country roads it may bo said~~that. gauged by the standard adopted in the United States, the traffic tallies on roads in New Zealand submitted to the board would not justify, except in a few cases, a better pavement than a gravelled road. I This raises the question of road econoj mics, which is pertinent to all construeI tion works, as indicating what is justified by the conditions in each case. The board instructed Mr. Tvndall, who has made a speciality of this important point, to prepare a pamphlet for the guidance of local bodies. This has been circulated in all counties, and it is hoped will be of use in dealing with this question, and determining the nature of construction necessary in any special case. Local Bodies and Board. The essence of the main highway system consists in co-operation between the local bodies and the board, and the statutes provide for all important matters to be considered by the District Highways Council (representing the constituent counties in each highway district) for its recommendations to the board, the board having, of. course, the ultimate decision. The board has certain mandatory powers, but it does not exercise them until all other methods fail. It endeavours, by correspondence, conferences, and through its representatives in different parts of New Zealand, to arrive at unanimity, and in nearly every case such tactics have been successful, and in the end % appreciated. Its outstanding power consists in its being the holder of the purse, and it also depends to a great extent upon public opinion. The board, outside its present financial subsidies, has in hand the following benefits: — • It buys machinery for local bodies and hires it to them for purchase spread over a term of four years. It is holding examinations for road foremen and issuing certificates of competency to those found worthy of the same. It tests metal, bitumen and other road materials for local bodies free of charge. It has applied for statutory power to increase its maintenance subsidy from one-third to one-half, whenever its funds permit. The advice of its engineer on all main highway matters Li available to local bodies. There are some who fret because the reads of New Zealand are not at once transformed into first-class highways. There are others who criticise the board because they thirl: it is going too fast and pushing local > dies too far. To all such critics I would reply that the main road question was such a large and involved one that, until our present Prime Minister faced the position, no Minister was brave enough to tackle it; that it is now legislation, the value of which is not yet properly understood; that the" board, though earnest in their work and considerate of the. interests involved, are not infallible, and that there are limitations fixed by the.Act beyond which the board cannot go. Time will speak for itself, but with a knowledge < t the operations in being, and in contemplation, and of the assistance and loans available now that were never available before, I believe that the verdict will be a favourable one as the years go. by and the main highways system of the Dominion becomes more fully developed.