The Press TUESDAY, AUGUST 25, 1964. Antigua Street Bridge

Press, Volume CIII, Issue 30528, 25 August 1964, Page 14

The Press TUESDAY, AUGUST 25, 1964. Antigua Street Bridge

The deterioration of the former university precinct between the Avon river and the Botanic Gardens is a classic example of the neglect of positive civic planning. If the City Planning Study Group had been as interested in the precinct as “The Press” was 20 years ago perhaps something could have been done to preserve its character. In the meantime, half the precinct has disappeared with the encroachment of commerce, and a massive building programme has effectively barred the development of Cambridge terrace as a major traffic route. The best the group can now suggest is abandonment of the proposed Antigua street bridge and the cramming of traffic into Montreal street, which w’ould then become a doubly hazardous barrier to pedestrians trying to reach the Botanic Gardens and the Canterbury Museum. All this to preserve four narrow blocks between Montreal street and Rolleston avenue. The whole precinct might have been worth such heavy roading expenditure; is the remnant worth it? Nevertheless, if it is possible to preserve the attractiveness of Rolleston avenue and Park terrace, for motorists as well as pedestrians, it should be attempted. The group’s plan deserves serious consideration because some modification of it might be an acceptable solution. For instance, the south end of Rolleston avenue might be closed and a bridge from Antigua street taken across into. Cambridge terrace. That might avoid the principal weakness In the group’s plan—a serious increase in the already almost intolerable congestion in Oxford terrace and at the hospital comer. If the group had.its way it would divert into an inadequate street system traffic from the south, west, and east that should by-pass the city centre. The whole area between Colombo and Montreal streets would seize up if it were called on to carry a much heavier load. The trouble with most criticism of the master transport plan is that it has concentrated on one small section at a time without relating it to the whole roading pattern. Every attempted compromise at one point causes difficulty somewhere else. The proposed development of Montreal street would, for instance, turn Cranmer square into a busy roundabout, a change that would be regretted by many more than pupils of the Christchurch Girls’ High School. It would also make the Fendalton motorway even more necessary. The critics are not beyond being inconsistent with themselves. Mr P. 3. Beaven, who apparently supports the policy of the group to restrict traffic inside the belts, also advocates highdensity housing in the locality. Nothing could be better calculated to increase traffic congestion. More economical use should certainly be made of land near the city centre; but it would be unrealistic to assume that prospective tenants would all prefer to walk and not to use cars. Indeed, it would be more reasonable to assume that, like most of the enthusiastic “ pedestrians ” who attend the group’s meetings, they use cars and intend to go on using them, as the great majority of Christchurch residents intend to do. More Money For Urban Roads The agreement of the Counties Association to greater expenditure on urban roading warrants the praise given by the Minister of Works (Mr Allen). Though the greatest roading needs in New Zealand are now obviously in the metropolitan areas (which also probably contribute the lion’s share of roading revenue), the Counties Association was in the strong position of having a statutory guarantee of 30 per cent of expenditure from the national roads fund. The association has shown good sense in agreeing to a reduction of its share to 26 per cent and at the same time to a reduction in the share of State highways (most of them in the country) from 51 per cent to 49 per cent, thus giving the board an additional 6 per cent to spend at its discretion. The board will now have something like an additional £1.5 million a year to help it in its attack on traffic congestion in the larger cities. It would be better still if all fixed percentages were removed from the National Roads Act; but it would be churlish not to recognise the co-operation of the county councils in undoing some of the harm done by tinkering with the original national roads scheme. They have the reward of knowing that their smaller share will come out of a bigger pool, because of the Government’s diversion of 2d a gallon into the fund.