West Coast, record in road works

Press, Volume CXI, Issue 32612, 21 May 1971, Page 8

West Coast, record in road works

(Stag reporter) , HOKITIKA, May 20. Between 1965 and 1970 the West Coast received $10,691,000 from the National Roads Board or 5.7 per cent of the total spent on all State highways, the board’s chairman, the Minister of Works (Mr Allen) told between the board and the No. 12 District Road Council today.

He said that since 1964 the sealed mileage had increased by 224 miles to 511 miles and bridge replacements had been at the rate of 1000 feet each year. There was no record like this anywhere in the country. “It is pleasing to note that these improvements have led to an upgrading of road classification,’’ said Mr Allen. “You had 13 per cent in Class' I road, 86 per cent Class II and 10 per cent Class HI in 1965. Today there is 90.5 per cent Class I and 9.5 per cent Class 11. This has been of great benefit to the transport industry as well as bringing relief to the farming, timber and coal industries.”

Apart from State highways, county and borough councils had received $3,896,000 from the board and had extended sealing by 92 miles and built 91 bridges, said Mr Allen. Speakers for local bodies told the board of difficulties in maintaining their reading programmes in face of a 40 per cent increase in costs over the last five years.

Mr Allen said that contractors and the automobile association would be asking the Government to restore 1c of the petrol tax to the board. “It is a good thing for West Coast that the coal industry is coming to an end,” said the District Commissioner (Mr E. E. Lawrence). “This has led to an appreciation of what else the Coast has. There are untold possibilities in land development; and the amount of work done on the roads has allowed this development to proceed.” The chairman of the Westland County Council (Mr Mark Wallace) said there were 500,000 acres of marginal land on the West Coast beginning to show promise from development of the district which could never have progressed without the help of the N.R.B.

“1 think it was a wise decision to close coal mines; and I as Minister of Works was asked to watch the exodus,” said Mr Allen. “That has not happened. It is rewarding to see that displaced men have found jobs on the West Coast.”

An extensive programme of bridge replacement had been forced on the National Roads Board on the West Coast, said Mr Allen. Generally, he said, the board was now entering a period of construction in concrete with emphasis on better bridges, overpasses, and the like on dust-free highways. “I have warned contractors that they must become more efficient.”

Mr Lawrence said that there were on the West Coast 108 bridges with a life of 100 years. This involved 1500 feet of new bridges at an estimated cost of $620,000. This figure did not allow for widening dangerous one-lane

bridges, or include four suspension bridges on the Haast route that were sound but of limited weight-carrying capacity. “We have been replacing bridges at the rate of 1000 feet, a year over the last 16 years, but this should be increased by 50 per cent, said Mr Lawrence. “The district allocation is $1,400,000 a year, and the average maintenance figure is $663,000. With $360,000 for bridges there is thus a deficiency in excess of $260,000 a year in our bridging'programme."