COAST ROAD IMPROVEMENTS

Greymouth Evening Star, 29 September 1928, Page 2

COAST ROAD IMPROVEMENTS

£20,000 TO BE-EXPENDED.

From the viewpoints of commercial and tourist traffic, and the provision of work for the unemployed, information secured by a “Star reporter to-day makes good reading for West Coasters. It is ascertained that the estimates of the Highways Board include the expenditure of no less than £20,000 upon the improvement of the Coast road, • such expenditure being quite apart from the Public Works Department’s estimates for the bridging of the Punakaiki and Fox Rivers. . x , It is stated that the £20,000 is to be allocated equally for the general improvement of the road, and the bridging of creeks in the Buller and Grey Counties, £lO,OOO to be spent between Westport and Fox River, and £lO,OOO between Punakaiki and Greymouth. There are approximately eight creeks to be bridged on the Grey County portion of the road, the chief one being Canoe Creek, and others being the Twelve-Mile, Fourteen-Mile, and Mulligan’s Creeks. The expenditure by the Highways Board will be apart from the amount spent in ordinary maintenance, which is otherwise provided for. An important feature of the proposed expenditure is that the £20,000 is to be spread over the short period of two years, which obviously means that the existing County staffs cannot hope to undertake the work, and there should therefore be every chance of a considerable number of West Coasters at present out of work being provided with employment. It is understood that the matter will be considered by the Grey County Council at the next meeting of that body.