NAPIER TO GISBORNE

Evening Post, Volume CXI, Issue 74, 28 March 1931, Page 8

NAPIER TO GISBORNE

EOAD IN FAIR ORDER

RECONSTRUCTION WORK

(From Our Special Reporter.)

GISBORNE, 26th March,

Although the road from Napier to Wairoa and Gisborne is now open for motor traffic, .the first heavy rain will bring down many slips, and tho road will probably be blocked in places for several mouths. Travellers using the road are loud in their praises of the wonderful reconstruction work that has been done since the earthquake. Workmen are stationed all along the route to Wairoa, and except for two or three stretches, the road is quite passable. The first heavy rain, however, will bring down many of the hillsides that have been badly cracked by the earthquake. Between Napier and Westshore the road, for a distance of about three miles, is very rough, and an inexperienced driver might find difficulty in traversing it. Tho bitumen is completely broken up, and in places the road dips and rises like a miniature switch-back railway. In some parts it dips as much as eight or nine feet. This is most noticeable at bridges. One of tho most difficult portions of tho road to negotiate is the Motuhora Gorge. Although workmen are clearing away the slips and widening the road, care must bo taken in driving up the Wairoa side of tho gorge. Except where it is necessary to deviate across paddocks to cross the Wairoa railway viaduct, the rest of the road is in good repair. The Wairoa bridge is being reconstructed, and it will be some time before vehicular traffic will be able to use it. Apart from a few minor slips the Devil's Elbow is quite passable. Service cars are running daily froni Naper to Wairoa and Gisborne, and experience no difficulty in getting through.