Civic Trust Opposes Motorway Priorities

Press, Volume CIX, Issue 31967, 19 April 1969, Page 14

Civic Trust Opposes Motorway Priorities

None of the motorways pro posed within the four Christ church “belts” should be bull until enough money is avail able and all other traffic re lief possibilities have beet fully tried, in the opinion oi the Christchurch Civic Trust This is one of the proposal: made by the trust in its for mal objections lodged agains the City of Christchurch Dis trict Scheme. Instead of motorways in th: 'central city area, the trusi I wants the city to try a hier larchy of one-way streets. , “All cities which have ra 'tionalised their traffic into a hierarchy of one-way street: and priorities have expert enced a two or three time: increase in traffic flows,” it: objections said. The city’s present wid« street pattern was only 10C years old, and the proposed increase in traffic flow in the inner area in the plannini period of the Master Trans port Plan was only a little more than twice the present I flow.

“The trust believes that the new one-way systems of streets, organised traffic patterns, and full use of the

belts, will provide all the car I movement needed for many

o-i years until further advanced it-| techniques become known," lt;the trust said. II- Mr J. Oakley, chairman of e- the trust board, said yesterin day that in another 25 years »f all sorts of things might be it possible, including new pubis lie transport systems and r- overhead structures requiring st no land acquisition. s- In its formal objections, the trust said the money le saved by postponing the st central-area motorways could r- then be better used for such things as parking buildings, i- a tight-knit arcaded pedesa trian inner core, highis density bousing for the inner ■i- area, and the creation of a ss real city centre. ls The trust also wants to see public participation in city planning. It says this could Jbe done through local a amenity societies within a ie ward system, as a preliminlg ary to setting the expensive S' planning machinery in moit**