Roads board 21 this month

Press, Volume CXV, Issue 33815, 11 April 1975, Page 14

Roads board 21 this month

The National Roads Board, which is responsible lor New Zealand s loading needs, comes of age this month. During its 21 years, impressive progress has been made in improving the country's 7220-mile State highway system and the 50.200 miles of roads under local authority control Though the work done in the last 21 years has been extensive. the board is con■cemed that it is steadily losing eround in its efforts to overtake roading needs, says a statement from the board. A recent study of progress over the last five years has shown that less than 2 per cent of the highway system has been reconstructed, realigned. or widened and strengthened each year. At this rate, it will take 50 years to get round the whole system. There are hundreds of bridges which are in urgent need of replacement and everything points to the fact that bridging activity should he increased. PAY ANYWAY Formidable problems still face the board — a point tc remember when suggestions that traditional roading funds should go elsewhere are put forward. The late Sir Stanley Goos man, a former chairman ol the board used to say “People pay for good roads whether they have them oi not. If they don’t have therr

they pay double — in increased running costs, m increased wear and tear and in i increases costs arising from congestion and delay.” Board members are on record as having said that if they are to do the job to; which they were appointed! additional funds must be pro- j vided. The effectiveness of the National Roads Board can be assessed from its record since its establishment on April 1, 1954. NO FOOL A newspaper cartoon at the time showed a private motorist hoping for better times as he read of the new body. In the background officials and' politicians laughed and called; out: “April fool.” But 21 ■ years later this cynicism can 1 be seen to have been unfounded. In 1954 only 17 per cent of New Zealand’s roads were sealed. By 1974 the figure was 49 per cent. If the State highway system alone is considered an even more dramatic improvement can be seen. Figures are only' available from 1960 when the system was revised. In 1960 4810 miles were sealed—6B per cent of the system. By 1974 6640 miles were sealed—92 per cent. In 1954 only 5J miles of motorways were in use (21 miles southwards from Auckland and 3 miles northwards from Wellington). Today there are 71 miles of motorways. The Auckland motorway system is one of the largest engineering undertakings attempted in New Zealand. RIVERS, GORGES Major motorway works completed include the Newmarket Viaduct, in Auckland, 2260 ft long, the Thorndon Viaduct, Wellington, twin bridges. 4343 ft and the twin Waimakariri bridges. in Canterbury. 1380 ft. Fully operational motorways now exist in Auckland. Wanganui, Wellington, Christchurch and Dunedin. Because of its many swiftflowing rivers and streams, gorges and deep ravines, bridging is a major problem in New Zealand The board has recognised this, and since 1954 6400 bridges totalling 502,000 ft have been constructed in State highways and local authority roads. On State highways the longest river bridge was the Waitaki, at Glenavy. 2970 ft, built in 1957. and the highest was the Mohaka bridge on the Napier-Taupo route. 708 ft long, 170 ft high, built in 1962. SUBSIDIES The much greater volume of goods transported has re-

quired special attention to it increased loading capacity on c rural State highways. 1 In 1962 the board decided \ that apart from certain p secondary highways, al! con-|s struction work on State high- v wavs should be to Class I r standard. In 1962. 20 per 1 cent of rural State highways were Class I. In 1974 the I figure was 56 per cent. t The board provides money t for local authority roads ' construction and mainten- [ ance. Subsidy is at a basic t rate of S 3 for every $4 of local authority funds spent 1 on roading. Higher rates t apply to works of special im- < portance such as bridge re- < newals ! In addition, more liberal i aid by means of grant ism provided for local authorities in difficulty with road-; i ing problems or inadequate;: resources. In the period; i 1960-61 to 1973-74 the board : allocated $395.5m to local -authority roading, of which ;slsl.9m'or 38.4 per cent was ! required for maintenance and I flood damage. The remaining 5243.6 m was i available for improvement works, of which $183.1m or 46.3 per cent was spent on; major construction. $40.9m j or 10.4 per cent on bridge; renewals and $19.6m or 4.9 per cent on loan repay-j ments. PRIORITY The board has continued to help backward rural areas; to upgrade their road net-, works b\ instituting typical five to 10 year programmes of special assistance. Since 1966 local author!-; i ties in more than half of I the 22 roads districts have; received assistance in this way. To promote the orderly de-; i; velopment of roading facilities in major urban areas, ’; the board has, since the J early 19605, encouraged the ■ implementation of master ' transportation plans which : serve to identify in particu- ■ lar the priority that should be .given to particular works , items. The board has helped sub- ; stantially in the provision of ’ improved highway and public I! road access required to serve b big new industries, such as ■Marsden Point refinery, Glen|brook steel mill and Bluff! 1 aluminium smelter. POWER STATIONS ; The rapid expansion of the: • 1 timber and logging industry j in many parts of the country 7 has created roading prob-

lems which have proved diffi-| < cult for the board to resolve. 11 In some cases such as at i Whirinaki, near Napier, the j i problems have arisen at very‘ short notice, and will in-! | volve the board in major ex-;; penditure on the Napier-!, Taupo State Highway. In association with the , Electricity Department the board has contributed to the upgrading of roads in the. Waikato where coal-fired j power stations are being constructed. In the Waitaki Valley of! the South Island, hydro-; electric power stations and. storage lakes are being constructed and the board has! ! shared in the building of newi roads arising from this de-; velopment. On State Highway 80• i (Pukaki-Hermitage) the board! |is undertaking a programme: j of sealing extension (25 'miles) including relocation of 19 miles of highway above lake level, with appropriate share of cost being found from electric supply funds. TOURIST ROUTES Most of the important tourist resorts are served by the State hightvay system. Sealed ; access to the Chateau TongaTiro yvas completed in 1973- ; 74 and major work is in progress to complete sealed ; highway access to the Hermitage. Some important tourist routes in the South Island re- | main to be sealed, such as the | Linclis Pass, Te Anau- Milford, and Wanaka-Haast. The Paringa-Haast section of the Haast Pass route was com-; pleted in 1965 and then be-: !came part of State Highyvay ! No. 6. Since that time sealing ’. on this route has been exI tended as far south as Haast. In addition to providing overbridges as required on - State highways, the board 1 shares with the Railways the ■ cost of level crossing warn- ’ ing devices. In 1969, the main routes ' Te Maunga-Mount Maunga--1 nui, Christchurch-Lyttelton, 1 and Dunedin-Port Chalmers were added to the State high- ; way system, thus ensuring that every port of any size I was served directly by a State ! highyvay. This ensured also ! that any major upgrading needs were accepted as a national responsibility. In Auckland, Wellington, | Christchurch, and Dunedin II motorway construction is be- -■ ing advanced progressively to - overcome congestion in and -at the approaches to those

cities, each of which is affected substantially by the movement of heavy transport to and from the port. In South Canterbury, the board has financed an $BOO,OOO scheme of port access improvement at Timaru to eliminate the former difficult level crossing and indirect access route.