Date For First Shot In Road Tunnel Is July 22

Press, Volume C, Issue 29554, 1 July 1961, Page 10

Date For First Shot In Road Tunnel Is July 22

The first shot to begin the underground work on the Christchurch-Lyttelton road tunnel will be fired on July 22. The Prime Minister {Mr Holyoake) has advised the chairman of the Christchurch-Lyttelton Road Tunnel Authority (Mr W. S. Mac Gibbon) that he and several of his Cabinet colleagues will be able to attend the ceremony on that day. A function will be held at the Heathcote portal of the tunnel. Almost exactly 100 years ago—on July 17 ; —another function was held on the site for the turning of the first sod in the Lyttelton railway tunnel project.

Mr Mac Gibbon said last evening that final arrangements for the function would be mpde when the authority met next Thursday. It was necessary that the date should coincide with a day on which the Prime Minister could visit Christchurch. I The contractors had been consulted and agreed that the date chosen would fit in with their plans. Originally it was hoped that the first shot would be fired on the one hundredth anniversary of the turning of the first sod of the railway tunnel by Mr W. S. Moorhouse, the Superintendent of the province. The Prime Minister would be unable to attend on that day, and it is doubtful if the contractors would be ready. It is proposed that as well as Cabinet Ministers. Canterbury members of Parliament, and representatives of local bodies will be invited to a ceremony early in the afternoon. Preparatory Work Since the tunnel contract of nearly £2m was let to the!' Fletcher - Kaiser combine.! there has been considerable! preparatory work at the!

Heathcote end, from which the tunnel will be drilled Generally, it has consisted of earthmoving and filling at the site of the toll plaza and the tunnel portal, with some minor excavation ready for the . drilling of the tunnel mouth. At the same time, contractors have been making a road to the toll plaza site and a motorway, which will carry traffic on a new route to the city. Although there is little to see, and once the work moves underground there will be a lot less, the project site has become one of the favourite spots for- a Sunday afternoon drive. On recent Sundays it has probably been second only to the Christchurch airport as an attraction. Not since the 1950

centennial walk over the Bridle Path has Heathcote had so many visitors. Cars have to be parked well away from the site of the works, but hundreds have walked up the road, which is getting more slippery with clay every day. The main machine for the tunnel piercing, a jumbo built on a gantry, has been constructed by a Christchurch engineering firm and assembled on the site. From it. drills imported from America will be driven into the rock, the holes charged, and shots fired. It has been estimated that the tunnel itself and the fanhouse will be built within 30 months, and that the tiling, and the cleaning-up of the site will take another six months.