MT. VICTORIA TUNNEL

Dominion, Volume 24, Issue 292, 5 September 1931, Page 6

MT. VICTORIA TUNNEL

Laying of Flooring CONTRACT JOB OR NOT? It is understood that the matter of the laying of the concrete flooring in the new Mount Victoria tunnel will come up for consideration at the next meeting of the City Council. Two meetings ago the matter of proceeding with this work and the nature of the construction was very thoroughly gone into by the Mayor, Mr. T. C. A. Hislop, who advocated that the type of floor to be laid should be one that would provide for tramway tracks should it be decided at any time in the future to extend the electric tramway system through the hill, in preference to laying a less substantial floor which may have to be torn up completely when die tram-tracks were to be provided. It would cost less than £B5OO for the more solid floor, which would hold good in any eventuality, but a lighter floor could be laid for £6OOO, which would serve motor traffic but would have to be torn up altogether should trams ultimately be run through the tunnel. The better job was approved.

It is now for the council to decide whether this work shall be done by the city engineer’s staff’ or by contract. In this connection it is interesting to recall that the recent job of widening the Hutt Road by eight feet on both sides between Thorndon and Ngahauranga. On that occasion tenders were called for the concrete work, and the lowest tender received was so much below the city engineer’s estimate that it caused comment at the meeting of the local Highways Board, the city engineer himself expressing doubts as to the ability of the tenderer to do the job at the price. The tender of Mr, M. G. Templeton was accepted, and he carried the work through satisfactorily to the board and himself.

For that reason it is more than likely that tenders will be called for the concrete flooring of the tunnel, seeing how possible it is to carry out such work at less than the estimate. What with the Hutt Road, Seaview Rond and the tunnel floor in concrete, a definite trend toward local cement and gravel as against American bitumen is indicated in the pob'eies of local bodies in Wellington—this after many years.