CONCRETE ROADS

Hawera & Normanby Star, Volume LXXIV, Issue LXXIV, 15 February 1919, Page 5

CONCRETE ROADS

ENGINEER'S VIEWS OE OTHER

DISTRICTS

The Borough Engineer (Mr J. Sturrock) who recently ,visited~A.uckland and Napier, in hie report to the Council last night, said: 1 formed-the opinion t.Hat the general condition oi the streets and paths in Haw.era is ahead of that of the towns I visited,, although they have one or two pieces of special street and path 'work which are rather better (and much more costly) than our work here. I was struck with some beautiful concrete work in Napier, finished in faint, oxide colour which was remarkably pleasant to the eye. Napier is, of course, a much larger town than. Hawera., and can afford a few luxuries. It would add immensely to the appearance of High street," if,.. later on (which.never comes), oxide concrete footpaths, could be formed opposite the shops., The method of cutting out the name of the street by tile mosiacs on the paths at the corners was most attractive. There is also a delightful paddling;piaol for children. The engineer there, who was originally .an architect, has made use of his artistic training, and has designed a structure which would be hard to beat for simple effective design. It is in constant demand; children coming to it from far and near.,, while there are verandahs ' where parents may sit' and watch tie pleasure of the children. This, I think, owes some of its attraction to the beauty of its site by the sea shore. As against these I must admit that I was-, also struck by the neglect, in some parts of the town, of the footpaths, in ,which were holes and hollows so large as to suggest danger from twisted ankles. I suppose that war conditions have affected conditions of borough maintenance, and I conclude that this borough, as it is at present, has no cause to lie ashamed of jfcs general cohditionu It is fairly apparent that it pays, -tiro quite prevent hollows in tarredi work.. If neglected they soon get into, a seriously bad condition. Some very beautiful concrete roads have been constructed in Auckland. The cost, I understand, was about lie 6d per square yard, as against our cost of 5s per square yard for tar macadam. The difference in a big loan is almost prohibitive in a small borough. The surface of these concrete roads appeared to be slippery, although I did not observe any accident to traffic. Observation of these towns brings me back to the opinipn that, considering the size, characteristics and traffic of? this- town, the materials and methods of street and footpath works have been quite well selected and are entirely suitable. As the town grows so will grow its power to pay for some of the little luxuries in paths, etc., which the larger towns possess