DANGER LINES.

Auckland Star, Volume LXX, Issue 89, 17 April 1939, Page 9

DANGER LINES.

MARKED HIGHWAYS.

PRACTICE CONDEMNED. NEW SYSTEM IN AUSTRALIA. White lines painted on the centre of the roads in Auckland and other parts of New Zealand were described ae a traffic clanger by Mr. R. P. Worley, civil engineer, of Auckland, who returned by the Aorangi this morning after a visit to Sydney. "These lines are being discontinued on the most modorn highways constructed in New South Wales," he said. "In their place are .lines on each side for the guidance of traffic. The new system encourages motorists ,to keep to the outside, instead of hugging the centre of the road." The dangers of the centre line- were apparent on the highway from Sydney to Melbourne, stated Mr. Worley. Numerous collisions, eome involving serious injury, occurred at corners anil intersections, and there was noticeable tendency for motorists on thie road to take risks by over-running the white line at turns.

Protect Surfaces. Besides protecting tmflic, the lines at the sides of the road had another value, hi: said. Being constructed of concrete, they gave support to the metal and bitumen surfaced, and helped to eliminate waves and uiidillations. ' Another 'improvement was the construction of strong "unrd*, made of posts and steel mesh, at embankments and on winding roads formed along hillsides. This method had been recently adopted by thevHighways Board in New Zealand, with good results. In road-making machinery, he continued, New Zealand wae considerably ahead of Australia. Caterpillar and high-powered scoops were much more extensively need hero than in the Commonwealth. Drainage wae aleo much more advanced in New Zealand particularly in the towns and boroughs, as Australian towns were greatly handicapped by lack of water. Dam Disintegrating.

Storage of water had been developed on an enormous scale for irrigation and city needs, he said, and the Hume Dam, on the Murray River, which had a capacity much greater than Sydney Harbour, wae a huge structure. Unfortunately, it had recently begun to ehow signs of disintegration under the weight of water, and the concrete avas crumbling to such an extent that a scheme to encase the structure in new concrete at great cost would have to be undertaken. Several townships located in the valley below the dam were concerned about the danger.

Building construction in Sydney during the past two or three years had transformed a portion of the'centre of the city, remarked Mr. Worley, and at least eight new buildings of nino or ten storeys had been erected in the vicinity of Martin Place, while othere had been raised several storeys in height. Although the narrow 'part of Martin Place had been widened from 40ft to 100 ft,, the curious effect of the bijj new office blocke had been to make the new street look quite narrow. '

"Local bodies around Sydney seem to be jnore or leee dormant so far as development works are concerned," he said, "and there do not appear to be any major works in progress."