A NEW TRAFFIC LINK.

Auckland Star, Volume LXVI, Issue 224, 21 September 1935, Page 8

A NEW TRAFFIC LINK.

It is a highly satisfactory outcome of long and difficult negotiations that the Auckland City Council has at last secured a portion of the Shortland Street Post Office site for the extension of High Street.. Although tlie agreement reached with tlie Government is for the transfer of only a 40ft strip, this is sft Gin wider than the present foot of High Street, and should be sufficient to carry a considerable volume of traffic. The price of ±135,000 is well below the figure asked by the Government a few years ago. This, indeed, is one of the rare instances where delay in the purchase of a piece of city property lias proved profitable. Values to-day must be regarded as at bedrock level; any further postponement, therefore, would have been to the disadvantage of the city, quite apart from considerations of traffic and of the importance of putting the work in hand at this time. Citizens will appreciate the valuable efforts of the Mayor, which the Council has recognised, in finalising the deal. A link from Shortland Street to Fort Street, and so through to the waterfront, is urgently needed to relieve Queen Street congestion, and this will provide the opportunity for certain re-routing of 1 traffic which is overdue. It follows, of course, that conditions in Commerce Street will have to be reviewed. This has never, been a very suitable point for embarking and disembarking passengers from a large fleet of suburban buses, and some provision of a permanent nature cannot be much longer deferred.