A SPUR TO ACTION

Evening Post, Volume CXXVI, Issue 4, 5 July 1938, Page 10

A SPUR TO ACTION

Once a decision has been reached to proceed with a public work there is much to be said in favour of tackling it promptly and putting it through with the least possible delay. The present Minister of Public Works (Mr. Semple) has exploited this, policy to the full with the result that all over the country, whatever may be thought of the wisdom of some of the works undertaken, there is something substantial to show for the money spent, and the public are correspondingly impressed. To get a quick return from capital outlay is sound economy. Yet in the rush to get things done complications mayj occur, as the proposed reconstruction of the Ngahauranga Gorge Road well exemplifies. The work of converting the present winding road into a main highway of a standard suitable to the traffic carried is of a major order and the proposal is to close the road entirely to traffic for the period of reconstruction, which may well exceed twelve months, but which must be completed before N6vember, 1939, for the opening of the Centennial celebrations in Wellington with the problems of traffic they involve. In the interval Wellington will have to be content with alternative routes to and from the city. With this aspect of the problem the local authorities, the Wellington City Council and the neighbouring local. bodies, are naturally concerned and the whole problem was discussed at a meeting of the Wellington City and Suburban Highways Board yesterday afternoon, at which the Public Works Department and the Main Highways Board were represented. Three alternative routes are sugj gested. The first is via the new j Haywards-Pahautanui Road and the Hutt Road. The second is via the new road between Johnsonville and Khandallah and thence via Onslow Road to the Hutt Road. The third is via Ngaio and the Ngaio Gorge Road, joining the Hutt Road at Kaiwarra. In each case there are drawbacks. On the first route there is a narrow stretch between Melling and the main road at Lower Hutt station. The second route at Khandallah passes over a level crossing, the danger of which will be much increased by the new electric train sendee to Johtisonville. The third route has a bad bottleneck in Kaiwarra. There is also a narrow overbridge at Khandallah. These defects will have to be remedied if the alternative: routes are to cope satisfactorily with the traffic which will be diverted from the Ngahauranga Gorge Road. Sooner or later such works would be necessary, for it would be dangerous for Wellington to have only one exit and approach of main highway standard. In the normal course of events the Ibcaf authorities might have delayed action on these matters for years, but the intention of the Public Works Department to start on the Ngahauranga Gorge reconstruction at once precludes further postponement. Ini the past the boot has been rather onj the other foot, the local authorities) waiting for the Department to act. There is so much to be done locally in the improvement of thoroughfares, |as in the case of the Mount Victoria tunnel approaches, that a little stimulus of this kind is not without its benefits to the public generally.