MAIN HIGHWAY TO NELSON

Press, Volume LXXIV, Issue 22358, 23 March 1938, Page 10

MAIN HIGHWAY TO NELSON

WIDENING AND FENCING Ofl* WANGAMOA HILL

[From Our Own Reporter.l

NELSON. March 2Sk

The biggest work on the highway between Christchurch and Nelson is being carried out* on the Wangamoa Hill, near Nelson. Built on steep gradients and on shifting country, the road is being widened and fenced, and the work will pot be completed for at least another 18 months.

When travelling from Blenheim to Nelson to-day, the Hon. R. Semple, Minister for. Public Works, inspected the work and also addressed a gathering of all men employed on the road. So far 12 miles of road have been widened and a wire fence has been erected along the winding stretches, where there are deep drops into a wooded gully below. Until the widening was undertaken the road was so narrow in parts that two cars could pass only with difficulty. The slip which blocked the highway on Sunday has not yet been cleared and traffic has to pass over it. The slip is under a high rocky face and further slips will occur until the hill, which is in the line of an earthquake fault, has formed its own batter. The Wangamoa hill road has an ascent from the Blenheim end of three miles, and an even steeper ©■ five miles, with a more gentle decline through the valley towards Nelson. About two and a half miles of road remain to be widened.