TUNNEL TO PORT

Press, Volume CI, Issue 29866, 5 July 1962, Page 12

TUNNEL TO PORT

Good Progress Last Month The 660 ft driven in the Christchurch-Lyttelton road tunnel last month was the second-best advance for the month It brought the drive to 5311 ft, 86 per cent complete Reporting to the Road Tunnel Authority yesterday, the Ministry of Works said that ventilation in the tunnel had improved markedly since the break-through to the pilot drive from the Lyttelton end on June 15 Improved air conditions had enabled mucking out to be started immediately after blasting, instead of operations being delayed to allow smoke [to clear Components of the steel framework to be used for concreting the arch sections of the tunnel lining arrived on the site during the month The architect for the administration and toll building (Mr P J Heaven) renorted that it was expected that tenders could be called at the end of August Historic Occasion The break-through to the Lyttelton pilot drive was an historic occasion, and could be regarded as a symbol of the better economic integration of the metropolitan area and province and the port town said Mr F W Freeman The break-through was a milestone in the years of struggling for better access, he said, and when the Mavor of Lyttelton (Mr J B Collett) was able to walk through the tunnel and greet the city's Mayor (Mr G Manning) the event heralded the day when the traffic would flow through the tunnel The hills had been a physical and psychological barrier to trade expansion for many years With the Harbour Board's extensions and road access to the wharves, the tunnel would spell the end to the days when thousands of bales of wool had to go by trucks crawling over the hills and when fish and fruit cargoes had to be brought to the city the long way round. The authority agreed with Mr Freeman that the breakthrough of the tunnel should be recorded It also agreed in principle to a photographic record being kept of the tunnel's progress