HUNTER STREET TRANS

Evening Post, Volume CXII, Issue 51, 28 August 1926, Page 10

HUNTER STREET TRANS

PROPOSAL ADEQUATELY

CONSIDERED

LACK OF CO-ORDINATION

NONSENSE

USEFULNESS OF THE LOOP LINES,

Suggestions have been made, said the City Engineer, Mr. A. J.. Pat-: erson, to a "Post" reporter today, that the Hunter street tramway work was undertaken . without proper consideration and without co-operation and co-ordination between the engineers and tho Tramways Departments. I wish to state emphatically that that is'absolutely wrong, and as a matter of fact it wouMibo difficult to name.a tccent city work.which has-been given such ■ careful, consideration by officers, of each department concorned. ' ' ■ ...

The Hunter, street line was no new thing, said Mr. Patcrson, but was first proposed in Mr. Morton's time and was; included in- the big loan schedule;.of 1920, as a part of-the new route, I.'via' Wakefield and Victoria- streets, to* re-v lieve traffic pressure in: Willis and Ma- 1 ners streets. Also, this-;route"was.put

forward to meet such eventualities ■ as big fires, • serious accidents, or largo gatherings in "Willis or Manners street blocking the ■-way , through • those streets and consequently seriously; interfering with the city's - transport sys-: tern. -.■•':.■'•

Moreover, though ih; J920 motor traffic was not anything like the traffic of to-day, it -was realised that congestionwas bound to become more' arid;moreacute each year, and for this reason, quite apart from • accidents or' other blockages, some/ system; of diverting traffic, in the. interests of greater speed, of transit, for vehicles other than trains, also was recognised to be essential, not perhaps at /the .moment, but in', the 1 near fuiure. ' Is it likely: that'there', wouldi.have . been a lack of co-ordination between the engineers and the Be-'

.partments when ; the Hunter-street , length was first upon,/ re-; ■ marked ,'Mr. /Paterso'n, when ,the late; [ Mr. Morton-' was hlinself'.* both:-; City* ' Engineer and Tramways manager! . ; PAVING OP HUNTEB STREET. Hunter street, continued Mr.; Pater-, son, was also ■ mentioned in' the- streetpaving items of 1920. i for permanent bituminous paving, but ■' as the street was some ■. time to cirry train .'tracks' Mr. Morton decided .not to, lay that .permanent pavement, but instead to put down a comparatively t.thin/coat; of tar macadam. The average 1 maintenance cost on Hunter street Shad 'been /fairly heavy, about 2s • per square 'yard ,■ per annum, and the cost of. the thin' mac-, adam was 3s 9d.. Mr.' Morton had estimated that it would •stand up: to s the traffic for two or three years, ■ but as" ,a matter of fact it had given very/:good service for four and-a half years, and. had more than paid, for itself in- saving of maintenance costs in; two years. ; In Taranaki street also the same-fore-, sight had been exercised, not by one department, but by both engineers' • and tramways departments, for along /the central line of that street a thin coat only of bitumen had been lai,d in view of the fact that it was quite possible that tram tracks would have to be laid in. that..street.. The tar macadam ma : terial now being taken up "from Hunter street, Mr. Paterson added, was,not being thrown'to the scrap.Heap, but was being relaid with success, in Murphystreet. -A bituminous surface when taken up could only be relaid after being reheated, but tar macadam'could be quite successfully relaid 'cold and rolled again into a compact mass.. VALUE OP THE CONNECTION. "There are far more:experts outside the council than there'are in it,"'continued the engineer. ' "There are more wise men who cannot sit at the council table than there are who can; and> these experts are able, from/; a'casual'survey,' of one .particular item, ■'■ to 'put-right: those others who have devoted a' great deal of time to a careful consideration of that ite'nt, hot alone, but with consid--eration.of c\ty development, asia whole. These critics say that tne Hunter, street deviation will' be of mo value:whatever' to the city. I venture'toissytbat /in' a very short time/its, value;'will-be apparent even to them, for the/deyiation of car traffic from the Yrmid-<iity streets. will result. in .a' speeding-up eof every class of traffic.' which ; runs through .the city. It-will-be admitted, surely, that Willis and Manners streets and Courtenay'place are.already heavily congested thoroughfares, and ifjways: must ba found to.relieve'that'congestion to-day, still more essential wilUbe methods to give relief in; a'few years' time. It.is probably only a;,matteriof time when the city will.haye to -go.even further, and to/think seriously-of "oneway traffic. * ■ '.-■■' -..."'■

"There is another-point, and'-that is that the centre ?of; gravity, if.- one may so style' it, of,' tramway business is moving gradually south, and now centres somewhere about the'-Midland Hotel. Is it wise that cars;should 1 do' many thousands of'miles each year'of dead running between that poittt" and. Lambton Station?. , Wellington has cheaper long-distance fares than almost any othercity. in Australasia, and if the threepenny faro isito.be maintained, then these considerations • tannot'- be overlooked." ' - . ■•