SINGLE ARTERY

Evening Post, Volume CXXXVIII, Issue 76, 27 September 1944, Page 4

SINGLE ARTERY

HUTT ROAD TRAFFIC

VOLUME IN FUTURE

The opinion that future volumes of traffic would increase to beyond the capacity of the Hutt Road, the one transport, artery between Wellington City and the Hutt Valley, was expressed by the ' Government Town Planner, Mr. J. W. Mawson, in the course of his statement yesterday at the sitting of the Hutt Valley and Industrial Development Scheme Commission. Support for that view was given also by Mr. R. D. Hill, townplanning officer of Lower Hutt, and by Mr. H. R. Bach, engineer, Lower Hutt City Council.

Even now, at peak hours, the Hutt Road was quite heavily taxed, said Mr. Mawson. It was quite clear that the road, as at present constructed, with the bottleneck at the Wellington end, would not be able to carry the traffic required when Hutt Valley development was even approaching that contemplated under the general industrial schemes. Traffic on the road would increase three or fourfold at least, and the present four'lanes could not carry it. That, he understood, was also the view of the Transport Department. The extreme vulnerability of the road had to be considered. It was an extremely slender life-line between two important industrial communities. Sir Francis Frazer (chairman of the commission): In the event of a heavy earthquake or' similar disaster? Mr. Mawson: Yes. | HUTT CITY OF FUTURE. I To depend entirely on the Hutt Road j for transport communication between Wellington and the Hutt Valley with its potential population of 190,000 and its industrial zones covering 700 to 800 acres would throw too great a strain-on this artery, said Mr. R. D. Hill, townplanning officer for the Lower Hutt City Council. The Hutt Valley development scheme envisaged the city of the future embracing the whole of the upper and lower valleys, together with the adjacent areas of Wainui-o-mata and Stokes Valley. Sufficient industrial area hnd been zoned to accommodate 38,000 employees on the basis of 50 industrial employees per acre. The ratio of industrial workers to residual resident population had been estimated in this area as being one in four.

Mr. Hill said that a considerable volume of fast traffic would pass through the industrial zone of the Hutt River estuary area to Eastbourne and ,the bays, to the Wainui-o-mata area, and to a possible future highway to the lower Wairarapa. In the design of the new bridge and main road leading into this area, faster-moving through traffic should be separated from slowermoving industrial traffic.

From an examination of American authorities, said Mr. H. R. Bach, B.Sc engineer for the Lower Hutt City Council, it appeared that the maximum working capacity for a four-lane highway such as the Hutt Road ranged from 650 vehicles per lane per hour for free movement conditions to 800 vehicles per lane per hour with free movement occasionally restricted. This represented a capacity in one direction of from 1300 to 1600 vehicles an hour. . Traffic tallies taken in 1939 showed a peak hourly flow of between 500 and 600 vehicles an hour in one direction. This was about one-third of its working capacity. The conclusion to be drawn was that with future development the present Hutt Road would not carry satisfactorily the volume of traffic required. Any widening of the Hutt Road would involve heavy earthwork, realignment of the railway, and building of protective walls, said Mr. Bach, and it could only be undertaken at enormous cost. This was without regard to the very considerable engineering difficulties in the way of improving the Thorndon end.