SUBURBAN ACCESS

Evening Post, Volume CV, Issue 142, 16 June 1923, Page 6

SUBURBAN ACCESS

The whole question of access to Karori by a shorter route than the present circuitous Molesworth street and Tinakori road line is in the melting-pot. By the poll taken at the same time as the municipal elections, the proposal to provide for this access by purchase of the Kelburn cable tramway and its incorporation in the general city tramway system was solidly rejected, and it can scarcely be considered worth while to revive it. The wastefulness of the present Karori route remains, and demands a remedy. On the eve of the poll there were published details of several alternative routes: one via Aro and Norway streets to the horse-shoe bend near the Karori tunnel; two leaving" Willis street by means of an inclined lift and traversing Upland road; the cable-ear-Upland road proposal; and a route through Bowen and Sydney streets. The last of these simply short-circuits the most objection- | able part of the hairpin bend, aud in fact cuts off abuut as

much of it as is possible. It avoids Molesworth street altogether, and covers only a few chains of the upper part of Tinakori road alongside Anderson Park. The saving in distance is about 55 chains, or nearly three-quarters of a mile. This proposal was brought before the City Council on Thursday evening, and authority for surveying the route and preparing plans was given. It is suggested that the line may follow the lower level of Sydney street and get access to Tinakori road by means of a deep cutting, the practicability of which is no doubt purely a question of engineering. The new line will be—if it is built —about 43 chains in length, and presumably the council will have also to duplicate the' line for 95 chains from the Gardens along the Main Karori road.

As everyone knows, the improvement of access by tramway to Northland and Karori is one of the most important questions with which the City Council has to deal, for it involves the welfare of a large section of the city for an indefinite period, and upon the answer that is given to it will depend in no small degree the modelling of that large and roomy portion of the city. The population in those areas is growing fast, and will probably grow very much greater in view of the fact that there is ample room for a multitude of homes. The interests of the people who will live there. in years to come is even more important than that of the less number who are there now, and their unheard voices must be considered. The Sydney street route, besides speeding up access to these suburbs, has the important advantage that it will not compete seriously with a more southerly route; there will in future be service for both. Representations were made last night at the Civic League by delegates from the interested areas, urging the construction of the line via Bowen street, and a,lso making the suggestion that the whole question of future access should be submitted to a committee of independent experts. Another important convenience for the saving of shoe-leather is the "improved access to Roseneath," as it was vaguely called in the loan proposals. This emerged from its chrysalis at the City Council table'in the form of a definite and accepted proposal to construct an inclined lift near the Oriental Bay Kiosk, at a cost of about £9000. .This is the better alternative to a former proposal to. drive a horizontal tunnel in from the road and then go vertically upward by a lift—a scheme that would have involved an equal capital expenditure. The inclined line will have two balanced cars as against one in the lift scheme, and will thus have a larger carrying capacity. There should be no serious fear of the installation involving a current loss, with a large number of regular passengers to deal with and an indefinite but probably considerable traffic of people visiting' the locality for pleasure.