EAST OR WEST?

Evening Post, Volume CXIII, Issue 129, 4 June 1927, Page 8

EAST OR WEST?

NEW HUTT AR/TERJES

"RAILWAY AND ROAD Iff

THE GORGE

RIPARIAN COSTS V. BRIDGES

The problem oif putting railway and road through the Hutt Gorge turns largely on the visible and invisible costs of altering the riverbed, as against the cost of bridging the river. : ■

In yesterday's "Post" was reviewed the problem of extending the Waterloo railway to Taita and through Th. Gorge to Silverstream and the upper, valley of the Hutt. The deadlock bveij land prices north of Waterloo was touched on in yesterday's issue.; There is now to bo considered the question of the route through the' narrows of The Gorge. ■ '.;■.-.■

la both sections of The Gorge—the section north of Stokes Valley, and the section south—the road is in urgent need of improvement. It needs imP^^S not only as to floor,- but M to width and curves. In. places'Jfce: road is hard put. to find an existence -between the river and the hilL. How-much pore difficult, then, when the railway is added! " , . .- :.. . There are three ways- of carrybiir. railway and road through The Gorge: U; To leave the road where it is-~ subject to improvements—and to carry the railway through a tunnel from Taita to Stokes Valley, arid' .throuirh. another tunnel from Stokes Valley towards Silverstfeam.

(2) To locate railway as well aa road between the hill >and the river, which' would be dene partly by pushing th* river out and partly by poshing tba hill in, but the river could only '5 be shoved westward at Borne considerable expense, and then, only at some-risk of damaging, the rather low-lying lan 3

„(3) To remove the road from its) present site ,to the western, side! of the river, and to construct- ,the railway where the road now is.' ; ' ,": 'V; ,

TWO MORE BBIDOB&r

If the first course; tunnelling; M ruled out on the ground of ex^Bset it becomes important to weigh vrT<£« advantages and disadvantages '0* courses Nos. 2 and 3. A point straneeir urged in favour of No. : 3 is that if implies no interference with the course of the river. It does, however, involve the construction of two bridges and the purchase of approach land. One bridge would probably be westward of. the Taita Church or the Taita hoteL and the other would probably be a little north of the present Silverstream railway bridge. . A scheme dose enough to the scheme now being outlined has been prepared by Mr. James E. Fulton, M.lnst., C.E., in the following explicit terms:— ; '■. ■

The existing road through the Hutt Gorge south, of, the railway,bridge can never be made wide, level, or straight, so I put forward the following alternative:—Fropi near Silverstream .railway station, looking south, along main road, carry it straight, ahead across the jiver and immediately divide into two there. Carry'one braich of the road straight on along the north side of the railway to join'- the road at Haywards. The other branch would be the main road, which" from just across the river on the west side should turn downstream, piss under the railway embankment, and' run in a straight, level line, 1J chains wide,' across another Hutt bridge; tc v rejoin the bituminised road somewhere -near. the Taita hotel. I? think'-infisf of this Hutt Valley residents and the Eaoing Club will favour this scheme."

Many considerations arise that cannot all be discussed within the space at command. But it should be pointed out that the deviation of .the main road to the western side of the Hutt -would £ake it away from one important area of residential settlement, Stokes Valley. That would confirm the dependence of Stokes Valley on bridges— %o far, as road communication- is concerned— but in return Stokes would' have three bridges (including the recently erected toll bridge) within handy distance, and a new double railway line near its door; andjrould be entitled to a Tamp across the railway. The cost of two bridge* and a wharf would have to be eon* sidered as against the cost of the rU parian work involved by plan No. 2.

HAYWAKBS LEVEL LAIH).

An important item would be the iv« elusion in,the main road sphere of the considerable area of flat land south and north of Haywards Station.. Even a. casual glance will show, that at. this narrow part of the Hutt Valley—as apart from Stokes Valleyr—the" best level land is west of the. river instead of east; that is to say, the position i« the reverse of that'which obtains, at Taita. Of course, there.are many points of view to be .considered, and the Stokes Valley people may have some-i thing to say, but it is clear that: Mr; Eulton's proposal helps materially:"to the consideration of the subject in a' concrete way. It also lift* the-Veil to other aspects of development,, such! as the ultimate, use to be madeof the! existing west-of-Hutt railway. Both. 1 railway and road are cramped for most; of the way from Haywards Bouth tor Lower Hutt, and it may be deemed bet* ter here to do one job well instead bfl doing two jobs badly. ; .'■,'• Road accommodation of west coastj traffic is a factor. On'race days ..many]' of the Manawatu people are averse t* motoring to Trentham over the narrowj Akatarawa road, refuse to consider foij a moment the precipitous Moonshine! road, and also neglect the Haywards) road for similar reasons. . ,It is com tended that the road deviation- pro* posed,- plus an improvement -th«( Haywards road, would give '■■. Mans* watu people a short cut into the HutJj Valley instead of a roundabout, trini through Johnsonvillo and Ngahaurang* A satisfactory short cat".means a say* ing not only of motor-car-^wear-and* tear but of , road-wear. . In connection '.wiiJi the Hooushinc roa^ it is far* to add that, the steepest part on tfc* Hutt Valley -side could probably bi avoided by a deviation.