THORNDON QUAY

Evening Post, Volume CVII, Issue 22, 26 January 1924, Page 7

THORNDON QUAY

A PLAN WANTED

WIDENING AND STRAIGHTENING

necessity of looking ahead,

Though Thorndon quay has not been * particularly live subject at City Council meetings themselves, memhers o£ various committees have beW talking the bad state of the road over for a long time past in connection with one scheme or another. Admittedly the road .is bad, but to realise, just how very bad it is one must make the trip'oil-the seat of a hard-tired light lorry, not necessarily outside the speed limits. If the bad stretch was longer that would be a rather painful experience—physically, not "metaphorically— but as it is it is quite long enough and thoroughly unpleasant. Not alone do drivers remark upon the state of the quay, but the condition pi cars or lorries which regularly make the trip in the course of business speak loudly of potholes bumped into and hammered out of so many hundred v times a day, so many days a week. The state of dwellinghouse and business premises frontages along the quay speak loudly of the everlasting summer nuisance of dust and filth. After a good rain the yellow-grey mud splashed high on footpath poles and even on building frontages make mention of-slush as well as dust.

There are apparently two main proposed schemes for the bettering of Thorndon quay, apart from resurfacing, a straightening out to do away with a sweeping bend just before Davis street* is reached, and a widening of the roadway, at present 66 feet, to provide for all time against the possibility [probability, say those who advocate a widening to something over 70 feet) of serious traffic congestion on that main city outlet and future main warehouse street.

It has been estimated, a "Post' 'f reporter was informed, that the.cost of taking the bend out of the road would run into something like £100,000, all or some of which would go back to the Corporation by reason of the increased value of the land affected. The cost would not merely be the land cost, for, as a matter of fact, there would in effect be an exchange of land, but would include the heavy expenditure for the shifting of water mains, sewage pipes, tramway tracks and overhead gear of various types, and the-argiiment of those who oppose a road: straightening at the present;time"or"in..'t.h'e"jjear future appears to be that as the '.'exchange" of land areas will be much the same in fifteen years' time as it would be to-day, and the-cost of transferring mains, cables, etc., to the new roa(J just about the same, the work may very well be postponed to'a time when, the city has cleared up the tremendous load of work on its hands, and likewise ridded itself of its present financial burden. WHAT OF PERMANENT BUILD- - % INGS? Another point must, of course, also b 0 considered: What of ' buildings' in permanent material which ■ may be built fronting the present quay' along "this particular length, or in 'such position a« will render the building of a new length very much more expensive and- probably financially impossible ? ' '■'■ In the same way, the erection of permanent 'material buildings anywhere along that side of the quay which would be set back for the widening would make the carrying out of that work, whether the widening be of seven or ten or fourteen feet, an extremely awkward business. - •,

A member of one large- Wellington firm informed ia "Post" representative, in the course of a chat on" city affairs generally, that his '.firm intends "to bufid 011 the quay shortly, and was perfectly willing to make a.very (air offer to %\\* Corporation in regard to setting back tha building frontage, providing something* definite was deoi4ed upon, right- away. ■ "Here, again, is the old question, the urgent need of a city pj»n,",. he continued. " Not all business;' men look to £, s, d always, for many "of us hare a, city interest as well. Perhaps that, lob, ie a aelf.interest, for. a better .ciiyjn the end means better business j but I certainly must say that we are not given a particularly lively leadiri ths> matter ot city planning by the council. '* We want a plan not ten - years ahead, when it will be far too late, but a plan in the very near futurer There is still time to build Wellington into, "a very much better city- than itisutoday.

OF BRICK AND CONCRETE."

"' Te Aro Flat, as has been may time* stated, will be a big recqnstruotiqh job, and it is. getting vprse every day for tie want of a plan, but the Thorndon area may in the next few years'be iflade or ruined. The rearrangement of railway facilities must make a world of difference, providing a hotch-potch of brick and reinforced' concrete is not allowed to grow up. Had building planning means waste of land, #nd Wellington ig short enough of level land in all conscience. ■ . , ■

" Meanwhile, until the council arrives at a decision as to what is tq be done with the quay, I suppose the road will continue in its present disgraceful state. No actual road work can be dope until the tram tracks are duplicated and put in order, and no tram" Work, surely, will be done until the whola quay area pjan is fully considered. Wellington is becoming rather tired of assurances that a plan is being considered for this area of another; it wants to hear that a plan has been prepared."