The Press FRIDAY, AVGUST 30, 1968. Roads To Keep Pace With Traffic

Press, Volume CVIII, Issue 31771, 30 August 1968, Page 10

The Press FRIDAY, AVGUST 30, 1968. Roads To Keep Pace With Traffic

In the explanation of the master transport plan that the Christchurch Regional Planning Authority has approved for submission to its member councils is a very simple statement of what the plan should achieve. “In general ”, it says, “ the traffic service “ sought by this scheme is a level of traffic congestion “ no greater in 1986 than that measured in 1966 Unless a regional reading network is superimposed on the existing street system the service given by the present road network can only deteriorate. The service is most obviously measured by the speed, safety, and convenience of travel. If the scheme can be implemented as planned the service should, in most places, be increased, considerably above the level (of 1966) that the authority has deemed an acceptable minimum. Within the next six months the local authorities will have the opportunity to lodge objections to any part of the scheme that affects them. While the councils are not likely to question the scheme itself they may have reservations about the town-planning requirements on the use of land adjacent to the regional roads. These requirements are an inherent part of the scheme, for land use determines where and how traffic is generated. It is unlikely, however, that there will be any demand for extensive amendments to the scheme: and it is to be hoped that these will be settled swiftly. For the first stage of the scheme should be completed by 1970.

While it is true that several of the major items assigned to the first stage of the plan are already under way, it is clear that there will be little chance of matching subsequent works to the demands of an increased population in later years unless the initial works have been completed by 1970. Although the authority’s statement mentions dates up to 1985, by which the stages of the scheme should be completed, the success of the plan rests on construction keeping pace with the growing population of the Christchurch planning region and the increasing number of vehicles using the roads. It was one of the earliest tasks of the authority’s planners to convince the public and the local authorities that traffic would increase as rapidly as the authority was then predicting. It has already been established that the planners underestimated the rate of growth. The lesson must not be overlooked in the future.

If major road improvements are delayed funds may be absorbed in a continuing process of minor and makeshift improvements which will not, in the end, ease traffic problems; worse, they might lead to wasteful reconstruction. The authority rightly warns its member councils against being sidetracked from the master plan into works that will produce only limited, and, perhaps, self-defeating results. Because the National Roads Board has already given its approval to the principle of the plan and has kept itself abreast of the detailed work done by the planners, it is not likely that the scheme will founder at the national level, unless there is an over-all shortage of reading funds. By its foresight, Christchurch should now be able to avoid the almost desperate measures that have had to be taken in Wellington and Auckland to deal belatedly with serious traffic congestion. Christchurch is equipped to meet its needs by a logical and steady succession of works calculated to prevent serious congestion. The board should welcome the chance that Christchurch has given it to meet its obligations to the community in an orderly way and with the minimum strain on its resources.