BULLER GORGE.

Press, Volume LXVI, Issue 20026, 6 September 1930, Page 14

BULLER GORGE.

CAR TRAVERSES ROAD. REOPENING IN NOVEMBER. (SPECXAJ. TO TH* CBBSS.) WESTPORT, September 5. Through the courtesy of the Public Works Engineer, Mr Eoy Champtaloup, touring manager for the Auckland Automobile Association, was yesterday privileged to travel from Murchison to Inangahua, via Lyell, inspecting the Buller Gorge route, which it is officially announced will be reopened for traffic early in November. The car on which he travelled was the first to get through the Buller Gorge from Nelson since the earthquake disturbances, and can be regarded as the forerunner of the continuation of the tourist traffic on one of the Dominion's most famous scenic routes.

Mr Champtaloup stated that although there were huge hare scars to be seen, where whole mountain-sides had slipped away, the main scenic features of the Gorge had not been defaced. Indeed evidences of damage caused by the earthquake would provide an- added attraction to the route. Only those portions of the road actually destroyed were being reconstructed, but there were new sections which would effect great improvements in the route, especially as regards visibility and curva ture. There was still a large amount of work to be done. Many places on the route to-day made for very rough travelling, and there were a number of points where there was barely room to squeeze a car through. It,.would be quite impossible for cars to use tho road again for some time, as a commencement of the construction of culverts would form an effective barrier to motor traffic until November. i