No additional roads money for Chch

Press, Volume CXV, Issue 33814, 10 April 1975, Page 14

No additional roads money for Chch

Efforts to get more money for Christchurch roading from the National Roads Board had failed, the City Council’s works and traffic committee was told yesterday.

The council sent a, four-man deputation to Wellington in February! to seek more money after the roads grant to! the council was cut 16.3) per cent.

North Island municipalities had an average increase in allocation of 1.6 pei cent, and the average reduction for other South Island municipalities was 6.5 per cent. A letter from the Roads Board, placed before the works and traffic committee yesterday, said that the board could not increase the allocation, but would review it when it drew up its estimates. The city would continue its policy of land purchase within the limits of available finance, and important works deferred at the allocation meeting could proceed as staged construction, except for the Montreal Street overbridge, which remained deferred, said the board. The reason for deferring the bridge was the size of

the job, and the need for, such works to be pro-! grammed by the board on a! national basis. REMARKS CONFIRMED Except for the continued' deferral of the bridge, the! letter confirmed the remarks! of the then Minister of Works (Mi Watt) at the time! of the deputation, the com-' mittee was told. The deferral was not particularly significant, as the council’s programme had envisaged quite modest property purchases, beginning in 1977-78. Council estimates included supplementary items involving about $370,000 of Roads Board subsidy, and although it seemed unlikely that these items would be granted, another opportunity would come at the half-yearly review after the board’s estimates meeting in September, the committee was told. Surveying al! streets in the city to set priorities for reconstruction would probably cost about $5OOO, the street- ' works engineer (Mr H. E. Surtees) told the committee.

In recent years, the priorities had been set according to a points system taking account of the importance of the road, its zoning, condition, footpaths, and the amount of traffic. When eight miles of street! were surveyed recently, it! cost about $ll a mile, Mr 1 Surtees said. So far, only those streets obviously in need of reconstruction soon had been checked, but more such work would be needed when the National Roads Board set requirements for its next needs survey, he said. HARPER AVE BEND The Harper Avenue dogleg bend was one of the most dangerous road hazards

in Christchurch, said Cr J. F. Burn. Cr Burn asked when the road would be widened at the point. The committee will ask for a report on the

situation for its next meeting. The dog-leg was associated with work on the Carl-

ton Mill intersection, the committee was told, and improving approaches to the intersection would . cost $300,000, which was not available. However, it might be possible to improve the approaches for a lesser sum by working to lower standards, and the dog-leg might be able to be widened before the other work.