THE PRESS MONDAY, MARCH 29, 1982. Motorways and roads

Press, 29 March 1982, Page 16

THE PRESS MONDAY, MARCH 29, 1982. Motorways and roads

When the Christchurch City Council, last December, rejected many of the designations on properties required for road improvement or new construction under the long-standing plan for regional transportation, no-one thought it was the last word on the subject. The. Canterbury United Council, over the opposition of members of the City Council who sit on the United Council, has asked the Planning Tribunal to leave' most of the designations standing. The Minister of Works and Development, Mr Quigley, has, for his part, refused to revoke the designations required for the construction of the northern arterial through St Albans, north of Bealey Avenue, or the designations needed to widen Barbadoes and Madras Streets south of the Avenue. . With council pitted against council and one of the councils against the Minister, and with the matter ending up in the lap of the Planning Tribunal, requiring another round of hearings, the public could be excused for thinking the whole planning process messy and unnecessarily complicated and protracted. But although traffic plans drawn up some years ago, in rather different circumstances than today, must obviously be reappraised, an abrupt, sweeping revision of the plans would be unwise. At the end of the jockeying, there should emerge a reading plan adapted to the needs of Christchurch as they can be reasonably anticipated from today’s circumstances. Argument is likely to be fiercest over the northern arterial. The City Council maintains that traffic management on existing roads is likely to be sufficient to alleviate any problems of congestion in that area of the city that can be reasonably expected to arise. The United Council, the Ministry of Works and Development and others maintain that a new motorway north of Bealey Avenue and the widening of the southern stretches of Madras and Barbadoes Streets is necessary to keep heavy and through traffic off local residential and shopping streets. The City Council seems in this case to have the better of the argument with regard to the

widening of the streets south of Bealey. Avenue and its opponents the better of the argument with regard to the need for a" new motorway north of the avenue. Requiring each party to justify its case before the Planning Tribunal promises to reassure the community that the pros and cons of the works being considered have been thoroughly aired. There is more general agreement about the need for other motorways and expressways in the regional transportation . plan. The Opawa Expressway, for example, is acknowledged in most quarters to be needed, and is wanted by most local residents. (A fatal accident last week underscored the need for this expressway.) The only disagreement likely to arise is over how quickly the work should be done and whether shifting the State highway designation from Ferry Road would expedite the work. But if this expressway provides an example of roading work about which there is no fundamental disagreement, it also provides an example of how plans drawn up some years ago can, and should, be modified. The savings which are to be made by realigning a short section of the expressway and by eliminating an overhead bridge for which there is no longer need should convince even the most diehard advocates of largescale roading work that plans need constant scrutiny and re-examination to make sure the city gets a road system adequate to its needs, but no more, at the lowest possible cost. Wearisome and time-consuming as yet another round of appeals, hearings and decisions which cannot possibly please everybody will seem to many, the exercise is necessary. It is an exercise which will have a profound bearing on the sort of city Christchurch is 10 or 20 years from now. To ensure that the right balance is struck in catering to the needs of motorists and road transport, by taking an interest in, and where appropriate participating in, the planning process is incumbent on all to whom the character of the city is of concern.