Road Tunnel Modern On World Standards

Press, Volume CVI, Issue 31088, 17 June 1966, Page 30 (Supplement)

Road Tunnel Modern On World Standards

Lyttelton, the place where the pioneers landed, and Christchurch the place where they settled, built their homes and started commerce and industry, were separated by hills. The barrier was recognised as a difficulty in the way of progress right from the time the settlers plodded over the Bridle Path. They did something about it and as early as 1860 saddled themselves with a debt to build a railway tunnel.

This was of immense benefit to the expanding city; but as motor transport began to replace the railways for short-haul loads Lyttelton became something of an anachronism. It was geared to railways while elsewhere in New Zealand road transport was taking its proper place.

The need for a road tunnel was recognised many years ago by a group of enthusiasts. They campaigned vigorously, but they had to contend with a rival scheme —a canal leading to a port in the city. And port Christchurch advocates had many supporters, perhaps not unnaturally as Christchurch was laid out in the heyday of inland waterways. The Avon was seen as an ideal river for ships to tie up at the Bricks, marked now by a

cairn in Oxford terrace near Barbadoes street. The Heathcote was envisaged as an inland cargo route as far as the Cashmere road bridge; and the canal reserve is still used by some to describe the lower end of Linwood avenue. Violent disagreements between the tunnel and city port enthusiasts determined that no-one won the day, and

it was not until 1956 that the Government passed a bill authorising the road tunnel to be built, administered by an independent authority and financed by Government-guaranteed loans. The result is a tunnel of 1.2 miles which is among the most modern in the world, and which has already demonstrated its value to Christchurch. Traffic remains a trickle of the design capacity of 2400 vehicles an hour each

way; but from early in 1964 when the tunnel was opened there has been increasing patronage, even though users have to pay a toll and a goods toll is charged on commercial cargo. The toll system was agreed to by local interests as the only way of getting the tunnel built It was obvious at the time that vehicle tolls would not meet the demands, so a goods toll was imposed, somewhat reluctantly. This has been reduced after the tunnel finances were better than expectations. With a grant from the National Roads Board the Road Tunnel Authority is again looking at charges and it is probable that there will be a further reduction, leading to the ultimate aim of a debt-free facility which will be part, of the national roading system. The first reduction in

goods tolls engendered new business, and it was at a time when the wharves at Lyttelton were still in the process of transferring from rail to road, a process that will not be completed until the last of the three transit sheds at Cashin quay is completed and other wharves in the inner harbour converted to use by trucks.

The tunnel was built with the Ministry of Works as consulting engineers and the Fletcher-Kaiser combine as contractors with a £1,197,748 tender. Within a year of the contract being let in January, 1961, the hole in the hill was bored, and then it was concreted and tiled throughout.

At the same time a motorway was built to give access from one of the main feeder roads to the Heathcote tunnel mouth. This involved new underpasses and railway overbridges to give a smooth traffic flow to the tunnel.

A building that won an architectural award houses the administrative offices at the Heathcote toll plaza, and it is also the nerve centre for a control system that operates seven days a week, 24 hours of the day,

to keep the tunnel safe and busy. The complete cost of the project was approximately £2.7m. Use of the tunnel represents the saving of five miles in the city-port trip, and much of that saving is over a hilly road. The tunnel represents easy travelling for workers

at the port, but tt has always been foreseen that its main benefit to Christchurch and the province will be as a road for commercial carrying of imported goods and New Zealand primary produce for export. A secondary benefit is likely in the future as the hillsides of the harbour are developed for residences.