CLOSING SUGGESTED.

Auckland Star, Volume LX, Issue 245, 16 October 1929, Page 12

CLOSING SUGGESTED.

MOUNT ALBERT ROAD.

IN - DANGEROUS CONDITION

MT. ROSKILL BOARD BLAMED,

To such an extent has two-way traffic damaged the concrete and bitumen portions of Jlouut Albert Iload that at last [night's meeting the Mount Albert Borough Council seriously discussed whether the route should not be closed I until the Mount Roskill Road Board would agree to share the cost of its upkeep. The chairman of the works committee, Mr. Kayes, reported that the road was being torn up by the continuous twoway .traffic. The centre strip of bitumen was already badly broken, while the concrete portion, on the Mount Albert j'Side of the road, was also beginning to show signs of wear and tear.- " Alter .inspecting the. road with the . council 8 engineer, he recommended that : Mount Albert's side of the road should be roped oil' and made a one-way route only. Mr. J. H. Langley-: We have been fighting Mount Roskill over this ever since our portion of the road was finished and all our proposals have been ilouted. Members of the Mount Roskill Road Board have informed me that they have 110 intention of spending any money 011 Mount Albert Road, and put forward the excuse that they have none to spend. Nothing Done by Mount Roskill. ,Tlie difficulties of the position were explained by the Mayor, Mr. L. E. Rhodes. The boundary between Mount Albert and Mount 'Roskill districts ran along the centre of .the road, which was, therefore, shared equally by two governing bodies. 111 spite, of the fact tnat the Main Highways Board had offered the Mount Roskill, Road, Board a 3-to-l subsidy to construct and maintain the portion Of the road that was in Mount Roskill's district, that body had done nothing. ' Vet Mount Albert could not get any subsidy,; notwithstanding the 1 act that it had laid down its half of the road in permanent material. The centre strip had been only sealed with bitumen, the Jlayor added, so tram tracks could be laid. Asked for' further information, Mr. Kayes stated that the Mount Roskill side of the road was absolutely unformed. It was still in the same rough, primitive state it had been for veara past, and not a penny had been spent to improve it. In some places it was overgrown with long grass and was indistinguishable from the adjacent paddocks. This, 011 such a busy route, was a grave source of danger. There had been ID accidents on the road in the past three months and for some of these the, local bodies in Charge of the road might be held (responsible. "Close Up Our Side." '"I suggest we close up the whole of our side of the road," suggested Mr. V. iirighanr. "Let the traffic break down the other side of the road for a change and then Mount Roskill might do something." . ~ ~, . Several other councillors endorsed this suggestion.C T v. i' "If Councillor Brigham had to drive along that road, as 1 do, he would not make such a suggestion," responded Mr. A. A. Buckley. "The 'road is a menace. Traffic both ways travels on the narrow strip of concrete on oilr side. .When two vehicles meet, the' one which is 011 its-wrong side has to swerve 011 to the centre strip. Since this is . only bitumen,- it has been badly broken up by the passing of heavy traffic and is.now so rough that when a car leaves tlio concrete, it nearly overturns. I myself have had some very narrow escapes.": ; The Mayor pointed out that the question of Mount' Albert Road was 011 the order paper of the joint committee and suggested that further discussion should in the meantime hp postponed. This was agreed to.