Hereford St. To Be Dug Up

Press, Volume CVI, Issue 31178, 30 September 1966, Page 1

Hereford St. To Be Dug Up

Hereford street will be dug up for a new central area relief sewer. Over the next eight months the contractors will work along Hereford street from just east of Madras street to Oxford terrace, crossing two of the city’s busiest intersections at Manchester street and the Bank of New Zealand corner.

The successful tenderer for the contract, the second section of the central area relief sewer project, B. O’Shaughnessy and Sons, Ltd., propose to work two shifts; and the Christchurch Drainage Board has specified that there must be a minimum of interference to businesses and the public.

After discussions with the City Council’s traffic department, the board has laid down that work at the Colombo street crossing must be done just after Christmas and be finished by the end of January. That is the time when the city is quietest. There will be interference with the traffic lights, and there will have to be manual control and some diversion of traffic. Mr P. J. McWilliam, the chief engineer of the board, said last evening that the new sewer was necessary because of the higher density of office buildings in the centre of the city. The first section of the sewer had been installed

from Fitzgerald avenue along Hereford street to Latimer square. Now it was being continued to pick up with a sewer in Oxford terrace and a pumping station outside the Canterbury Public Library.

The contractor’s tender of £38,024 was the lowest of five received by the board. The others were:—A. Edmond and Son Ltd., £49,824: Ryan Brothers, £49,909; Rush Hire Ltd., £58,579; and Canterbury Pipe Lines Ltd., £68,357. Other tenders accepted by the board this week were: C. L. Cox Ltd., £27,284, for a section of the Burwood area sewer reticulation project; J. Hallisey, £2388, for piping of the east branch of Godfreys drain: J. Hallisey, £3238, for the Avonhead road drain piping: and J. Butcher, £921. for the Valley road and Garth terrace stormwater extensions. In each case the successful tender was the lowest.

The board realised that there must be some inconvenience to the public and to the occupiers of Hereford street buildings, Mr McWilliam said. It was trying to minimise the effects and asked everyone to bear with it in providing a community service.