THE GORGE ROAD

Evening Post, Volume CXXVI, Issue 78, 29 September 1938, Page 15

THE GORGE ROAD

CREEK DIVERSION

MACHINES AT WORK

AN AMAZING JOB

Though a commencement only has been made to dig down to some of the deeper levels on the Ngahauranga Gorge road deviation, the job already presents an amazing scene. There is interest in every phase of the work, the extent of which achieved with so few men is ex-

traordinary. In the lower gorge the new creek course is seen in its permanent position, where it has taken the place of the inner part of the old highway. It is a wide channel, concrete floored, and every here and there are cross ridges of concrete, tapering from about 3ft high where they are buttressed against the sft retaining wall, which will hold the new highway, to a foot where they reach the hillside. These are intended to break the flow of flood water. Water diversion is one of the engineers' problems over the whole job, and a good deal of temporary work has had to be done in laying culverts for access and working roads which will have to come out again. There is oneiftyater drive above the, big cuttifi|fr and another has been "■ commenced well above that, and later two 10ft culverts, more than twice the size of those being put in temporarily, will be made. As there is no road work on the long loop which the deviation will cut out, the creek will follow its old bed over the greater part of this, and come out in the old water drive well below the big cutting. One of the temporary culverts is seen just above the big cutting, where it was necessary to run an access road across the creek at least twenty feet above it, to take the spoil from a face forty feet high. Not only will these culverts be removed later, but the new highway will go some four feet below them, to makejbe grade to connect with a raised oi'road on the other side of the cutting. CENTRE OF OPERATIONS.

The chief interest still centres at this spot, though cutting back high rockypoints over the next quarter of a mile will present new features in the work in a week or two. Blasting, and the removal of the spoil by a big shovel and a string of lorries, is making quite a hole in the big face on the north side of the cutting, but the spot where the shovel stands is 25ft above the level which it will eventually work down to, and as the same applies to the old road northwards at this spot, there is quite a lot of work ahead there before' the' cutting will assume its final depth. The stream of lorries has grown to the extent that a man with a red flag remains on duty. There is a big knob of rock the size of a mansion round which the lorries go in one-way traffic, and the visibility of what is happening on the main working route to 'the bottom of the gorge, where lorries pass frequently at a fair rate of speed to deposit spoil from the removal of bends well to the north of the big cutting, is not of the best for lorries going out on to the road.

Much of the rock has been shaken by earthquakes in ancient times, and where this is the case it is easy to remove it, though care has to be taken by the men on,the job. It does not take a big piece coming down thirty or forty feet to knock a man out, and merely switching a rope to a ne\*/ position .from below will do this. VERY STEEP COUNTRY. ; The widening and straightening: of the road above the big cutting will mean bringing down very steep faces to a depth of 50ft in places, as the new level will be well below the old road. These rocky points, that are so steep that,one has to throw one's head back to see a man thirty feet above, have all to be cut back considerable distances, and will provide a good deal of spoil. At frequent intervals compressors are pumping air into the metal pipe lines, that zig-zag up spurs and ravines to drive pneumatic picks and drills. So steep are the hillsides in this section of the work that steps have been cut in places to enable men to carry their tools up. The crags loom overhead. Everywhere there are little red flags, showing the course of further air lilies or the line of a cutting, the placing of-which must have savoured of mountaineering. Ropes have to be used by the .workmen on prabctically all faces. The big shovels seem almost intelligent. There is one big .new one, a British product, which is! said to be better than anything else on the job for convenience in working and speed in handling. It weighs 22 tons. The speed of spoil removal needs to be seen to be realised, and the strings of lorries are kept very busy. A very few of the bucket-loads suffice for the ordinary lorry, which bounces when the load is dropped in it.^There is one lorry which carries lflPyards of spoil, but even that gets away quickly. A RAMBLING BOILER-SHOP. One cannot have mechanical efficiency without noise, apparently. The 16-yard caterpillar tractor, when travelling on the old bitumen surface, sets up a terrific din, ;. clattering clashing whine that makes the ears sing, while the vibration of the road gives one an idea of the weight that is passing. It is necessary to yell into a companion's ear a foot away before a remark can be heard, and then hearing .is a little uncertain because of occasional louder bursts of the rumbling, screeching, ear-smashing noise. The way the j old bitumen surface stands up against I this sort of traffic is a tribute to those 1 who laid it down. Here and there a slight subsidence of the foundation leads to breakages of the surface, but even the projecting grips of the caterpillar treads merely scratch the surface. A sound that seems astounding in |

j such surroundings is a railway whistle. One of these has been .put-in on a tall pipe to call the men to smokos I and meals. It was interesting to see j a bulldozer spread a big lorry road in ; a few trips back and forth. When it | had finished there was no need for a 'grader.. The new stock route is taking | definite shape.