WHIROKINO HIGHWAY

Manawatu Standard, Volume LIII, Issue 245, 13 September 1933, Page 8

WHIROKINO HIGHWAY

DEVIATION QUESTION REVIEWED MANAWATU COUNTY ADAMANT. The subject of the deviation of the Whirokino highway to render it immune from flood inundation was again before the Mai**-*ratu County Council yesterday, and, following a protracted discussion, the council decided to adhere to its previously expressed view—that as a council it was not concerned in the deviation of the road but only in its maintenance. Reconstruction work, the council considered, should be undertaken on a national basjs. The discussion arose on receipt of a letter from the Foxton Chamber of Commerce offering congratulations to the council on its obtaining a grant from the Main Highways Board to complete the sealing of the highway between Himatangi and Rangiotu. The letter, however, went on to state that at the same meeting it had been agreed to invite the chairman, the engineer and members of the Manawatu County Council to a conference to be held at Foxton with the chamber and motor associations with a view to co-operating with the council in obtaining assistance from the Public "Works Department, the Unemployment Board and the Highways Board to safeguard the "Whirokino section of the No. 1 main highway against flood inundation. The chamber recognised that this work was of an extraordinary nature and that county ratepayers should not be called upon to bear more than a fair proportion of the cost. The chamber asked the council to fix a date for the meeting, while it would make all other preliminary arrangements for the conference.

EARLIER PROPOSALS. Cr J. H. Perrett: What idea have they at the back of their heads now? Is it the late Sir James Wilson’s scheme they want? Cr W. E. Barber (chairman) : No, Sir James really never had a scheme. 1 made a suggestion to the late Mr G. Hickford, when he was engineer, to cut out several corners' on the road and straighten it. We inspected the place and Mr Hickford made a suggestion to take a different route and come out with the road at a point on No. 1 Line, but for my part I could not see any advantage in that. I subsequently brought a proposal before the council with the idea of getting some land for a new road round the river bank, but that is not what tlie Foxton Chamber of Commerce has in mind. I doubt if Sir James Wilson ever knew anything about the proposal I brought forward. Cl - J. Boyce: There should not be any difficulty about getting the land —it could be taken under the Public Works Act.

Cr A. N. Morcom: What is the difficulty at Foxton? There must be something they don’t realise in the matter.

The chairman: They don’t realise that the route of the present road is as low as the river while the land round the bank where I suggest the road should go is firm. Further, that the. amount of filling which would require to be done on the road line would be tremendous and I doubt if it could be carried out. Even if it were filled the first flood would wash it away. To put a bank across there with 10,000 acres of flood country behind it would only have one result. The building of a trestle bridge to let the flood water through was mentioned at this stage, the engineer, Mr H. V. Bond, informing the council that a bridge of this nature would cost £19,200. At the request of the chairman, the engineer read details to the council of the two schemes that had been put forward, viz.: No. 1 scheme, to straighten as far as possible and raise the present road as favoured by the Foxton Chamber of Commerce; No. 2, to deviate the road round- the river bank on high ground as put forward by the council some time ago with the addition to the original proposal that the Foxton end of the road should emerge almost into the main street of Foxton. Going into committee, the council discussed the schemes and, resuming the discussion later in open council, the chairman pointed out that the council was faced with expenditure of considerable sums on the renewal of the Bulls bridge, the Awahuri bridge, the Longburn bridge and the Rangiotu highway, and, there was also the Hirna-tangi-Sanson highway which the chairman supposed the council would have to tackle sooner or later. In face of these commitments Or Barber could not see how the council could take any practical interest in the reconstruction of the Whirokino highway. Cr. Boyce: About 90 per cent, of our ratepayers never use the road.

“SHOULD BE NATIONAL WORK.’’ The chairman agreed with this view and thought that the council should adhere to the point that any work done on the road should be on a national basis. As far as the Manawatu County Council was concerned it had no other obligation toward the road than to maintain it. Cr. Perrett-. It would perhaps be as well if we had a programme of works in order of their importance to be dealt with in that respect. The chairman said that the works he had given were about in order of their importance except that perhaps the Longburn bridge was the most important immediate future proposal. The engineer: The structure is becoming dangerous and its reconstruction is important. The chairman: And we are also committed to work on the Itangiotu highway. Or. Boyce: It will be some time before we can do anything to the Himatangi-Sanson Road. Cr. Perrett: Perhaps so, but the Wliirokino Road will have to come after the Himatangi-Sanson Road is done. The chairman: If it were a question of a new bridge over the Manawatu River at Whirokino I would be prepared to 'do something but in view of Mr Bond’s report that the present bridge is good for a further eight to 16 years I think it will be alright as long as we can keep the road m order. Cr. Perrett: I agree, but seeing those people at Foxton keep on agitating we ought to make our position plain to them. Cr. Boyce: The stand we should take is that we favour No. 2 scheme only, but that we cannot possibly go on with it at the present time. We have no money and simply cannot do the work. If they want the job done they will have to get the subsidy increased. The chairman pointed out that the Whirokino Road was about 40 or 50 years old and during that time the council had improved it considerably by providing more outlets for flood water. As a council, the council was not obliged to have anything to do with removing the road from the flood menace. The council had ot i l , er work to do, and besides this the AVhirokino was a national highway and the council was not going to have anything to do with it. The council further discussed the matter generally, following which it was decided that the whole council, together with the clerk and the engineer, would attend the conference at Foxton at, a date to be arranged.