Roads Expenditure £7M APPROVED FOR FIVE S.I. AREAS

Press, Volume CIII, Issue 30447, 22 May 1964, Page 14

Roads Expenditure £7M APPROVED FOR FIVE S.I. AREAS

(From Our Own Reporter) WELLINGTON, May 21. Of the £45,258,(XX) provisionally approved by the National Roads Board today for state highway construction in the next three years, £7,778,000 will be spent in the five South Island reading districts which are in the main circulation area of “The Press.”

In the three-year projection of works earned out for this programe, the Westland district stands fourth highest for the Dominion and above all other South Island districts. This is mostly because of work to be done on the western highway over the Haast Pass, and because of urgently needed reconstruction on some of the most rugged stretches. The Mid-Canterbury district has £540.000 allocated for work on the northern access route to Christchurch. Generally, the allocations for Canterbury, Nelson and the West Coast are those approved earlier this year. Of the five districts named below, only Nelson has a supplementary amount, of £350,000. Allocations The approved allocations for the present and the next two financial years for state roads in New Zealand are as follows: 1964- .. £15,600,000 1965- .. £14,935,000 1966- .. £14,723,000 Total .. £45,258,000 The amounts for the five South Island districts in “The Press” circulation area are:— Nelson-Marlborough (No. 11) 1964- .. £548,000 1965- ~ .. £561,000 1966- ~ .. £596,000 Total . .. £1,705.000 West Coast (No. 12) 1964- . .. £813,000 1965- .. £782,000 1966- .. £793,000 Total .. £2,388,000 North Canterbury (No. 13) 1964- . .. £354,000 1965- ~ .. £349,000 1966- ~ .. £353,000 Total .. £1,056,000 Mid-Canterbury (No. 14) 1964- . .. £564,000 1965- ~ .. £487,000 1966- ... £510,000 Total .. £1,561,000 South Canterbury (No. 15) 1964- . .. £391,000 1965- „ .. £330,000 1966- „ .. £347,000 Total .. £1,068,000 M i (1-Canterbury The most significant items on the estimates for the MidCanterbury district, which includes Christchurch and its environs, concern the northern motorway, the Fitzgerald Avenue bridge, and the Moorhouse Avenue overpass. On the northern outlet, £120,000 is on the programme for this year on the BelfastPinehaven section. This work is that associated with the approaches to the new Waimakariri river bridge for which £lO,OOO is allowed. The Belfast-Pinehaven section will take £95,000 in 196566. and £130,000 in 1966-67. Work on the structure of the Waimakariri bridge will not start until 1965-66, when £45,000 is allowed for, followed by £50,000 in 1966-67. Motorway expenditure is £170,000 for this year and next, and £200,000 in 1966-67, with £lO,OOO a year allowed for land purchase. Urban Work

Urban works in Christchurch amount to £150,000 this year, with the level of expenditure falling as work in Moorhouse avenue nears completion. An allocation of £20.000 this year will enable a start to be made on the Colombo street underpass. This, with £56,000 on the Fitzgerald avenue bridge and approaches, are the main works.

Expenditure on the Fitzgerald avenue bridge this vear is divided into £24,000 on the bridge itself and £32.000 on the approaches. Another £20.500 is authorised to be spent on the approaches next year.

Other work in Fitzgerald avenue will require £17,000 in 1965-66. and £26,000 ’ in 1966-67.

The sum of £lO,OOO is allowed for strengthening work on State highway 1 near Templeton. A modest sealing programme of £36,000 will be continued on State highways 72 and 73.

On highway 75 a start will be made this year, and spread over three years, on a strengthening programme to cost £60,000.

This section was found to be under strength when the survey was made out last year for the upgrading of the highwav to Class 1. A small bridging programme is envisaged, with repairs to the Rakaia, Selwyn, Ashley, Bruce, Kowai. Annat, Greylees and Prices bridges. . An item included m 196b--67 is £120,000 for the Waipara river bridge, an earlier start on which has been recommended. South Canterbury The good foundations on the Canterbury plains receive credit for there being little

change in the maintenance costs of the South Canterbury district.

In Timaru £5OOO this year, rising to £20,000 in 1966-67, is on the programme for reconstruction on highway 1. A section of this highway, with poor alignment near Pareora, will be straightened next year, costing about £15,000. The improvement at Burrell’s cutting on highway 79 will be completed with £20,000 allowed this year and £BOOO next year. Some £120,000 is allowed on highway 8 this year. With only some £30,000 next year, the seal should be completed to Pukaki. Pukaki-Ohau

The further extension of the seal will continue with £50,000 allowed for next year and £40,000 the year after between Pukaki and Ohau. The district council has not completed investigations yet on the method to be adopted on the sealing of highway 80 between Pukaki and The Hermitage. This is expected to be completed in time to begin work later in the year. The work is a board commitment, and £20,000 as a supplementary item has been included in the estimates. This should enable a worth-while start to be made. Reconstruction within Timaru is allowed for to the extent of £5OOO this year, £lO,OOO next year, and £20,000 in 1966-67. North Canterbury The major reconstruction item in the North Canterbury district is on State highway 1 at the Omihi saddle. A good start was made on this job last year, and with £32,000 this year and £15,000 next, the northern section will be completed. Included this year is £12,000 to start on the eightmile southern section towards Waipara, which will cost £lOO,OOO. Only small items are included on highway 7, except the £9500 which completes the seal to the summit of the Lewis pass. A sum of £3OOO is included for extension of seal in Kaikoura County on highway 70. At the district roads council meeting a resolution was passed asking that the board make additional funds available this year on the Amuri County section. A supplementary item of £5OOO was today approved for this, bringing forward an item allowed for in 1966-67.

The major need in this district is the renewal of bridges. Several of these, such as the Kahutara (£100,000) and Waiau (£117,000) are large ones. These major items are causing a heavy drain on district funds. Nelson

The Nelson-Marlborough district has held maintenance steady at last year’s figure, but there has been a supplementary request for additional reseals.

Work about Nelson city is well forward. A sum of £19.000 is allowed in 196465 to complete work on highway 6 Haven road. The. cost of improving the northern access on highway 6 to the city is £60,000, and £16,000 has been allowed for this for 1965-66. There has been a request for the work to be speeded up. Four small works costing £22,350 are listed on highway 1. The main item is the Waimea (Ure) deviation, on which a start will be made. The main construction is on highway 6. The £20,000 this year will complete the Havelock-Can-vastown section, £38,000 will continue the extension of seal between Sullivans and Doughboy creek,, and £40,000 is needed south of Sullivans.

A general extension of seal is allowed on highways 61, 63 and 65. On highway 65 £15,000 will be spent on improvements to Higgins bluff. This year 24 bridges are included in a heavy bridge renewal programme costing £135.000, and there will be further expenditures of £160,000 a year in 1965-66 and 1966-67.

Four supplementary items amounting to £35,000 have been included. These are for reseals and for work on Nelson’s northern approaches. These items will be considered at the half-yearly review. West Coast The expenditure in the West Coast area is largely for repairs, maintenance and completion of Highway 6. the main road down the West Coast and eventually over the Haast Pass. Nearly £300,000 will be spent on various works on the road this year, the main items being £167,000 on new sealing, £67,000 on bridging and £28,000 on sealed sections.

To meet the board’s share of the Haast Pass reading an additional £17,000 is required this year, bringing the estimated expenditure to £150,000 in 1964-65. 1 Major reconstruction should be completed on this route next year, and the expendi-

ture in 1966-67 will be largely on bridging. Reduction Urged

To meet the extra £17,000 commitment at Haast it is recommended that the extension of th? sealing programme in South Westland on Highway 6 be reduced, as an extra £50,000 had previously been added to the allocation on this highway. The three-year programme of maintenance calls for the expenditure of £37,500 a year on the section from EightMile to Punakaiki, £42,000, £41,000 and £40,000 in successive years on the stretch between Arahura and Waiho, and £50,000 next year and the year after on the section between Waiho and the Haast Pass.