PERMANENT SEALING FOR WHANGAREI STREETS

Northern Advocate, 30 November 1937, Page 3

PERMANENT SEALING FOR WHANGAREI STREETS

The Whangarei Borough Council last night decided upon a street sealing programme for the current year.

The legal and finance committee reported having received the followingreport upon the matter from the engineer, Mr H. W. Cormack;

"An item of £6OO appears on the estimates for tire current year and, to date. £9O of tins has been spent mainly on works carried over from last year. The sealing of part, of Albert Street has already been authorised and will be completed as soon as tire roadroller is again in commission. This will cost £BO leaving available for further sealing works a sum of £430. “The streets which are in best condition for scaling arc Robert Street and Victoria Quay. It is proposed to treat those streets with two applications of bituminous "cut-back" at an average cost of 1 - per square yard. The estimated cost of the proposed work is— Robert Street £95, Victoria Quay £45. Cheap Method.

“The treatment proposed above is similar to that done with great success last year in King Street and Lupton Avenue and is a very cheap method of securing a good sealed road.

“However, it is impossible to carry out this treatment on most of the roads in the borough for, while the bottom course of road metal is of first-class crushed rock, unfortunately, there has been placed on this a course of soft brown rock varying in thickness

from one to three inches. •‘To seal on to this surface would be extremely hazardous, while to remove this crust of inferior material would make the level of the roadway not in accord with the surrounding formation. The treatment which I recommend is scarify lightly the existing surface, incorporate into it li inches crushed metal, roll well and then seal with two coats of bituminous emulsion.

Estimated Cost,

“The estimated cost of this work I .s 2/-. per square yard, but will become greater if a larger thickness of soft metal is discovered than the preliminary investigations have lead us to believe. The streets which it is possible to do by this method are:— “Powhiri Avenue, estimated cost, £270; Hatea Street. £360; Princes Street, £240; Mair Street. £110; Kauika Road, £3OO. “I recommend that Robert Street and Victoria Quay be sealed. If the vote for sealing is not to be exceeded, this will leave available £3OO, and, from construction and maintenance considerations, all of the streets mentioned have equal claims. “I have also been asked to report on the sealing of Rose Street. Investigation shows that there is not a sufficient thickness of metal on the roadway to justify any sealing works. Also the level of the existing roadway is not in accord with footpath, and other fixed levels in the vicinity and the roadway in. places should bo lowered nine inches. In addition I consider that the existing trees should be removed and the roadway widened out to 40 feet. To reform the road, metal with six inches of metal and seal the roadway will cost £32o.’’

Committee’s Recommendation,

The committee recommended: (a) That Robert Street be sealed fi’om Walton Street to Rathbone Street at '■,n estimated cost of £95; (b) that Victoria Quay be sealed at an estimated cost of £45; (c) that £IOO be allocated to the sealing of those street intersections in a suitable state for sealing; (cl) that the street intersections be selected by the borough engineer and to include Bernard Street and Maunu Road, and Kensington Avenue and Islington Avenue; (e) that the balance of the vote available, amounting to approximately £l9O, be expended in sealing portion of Powhiri Avenue; (f) that, in view of the engineer’s report regarding Rose Street, further consideration of the matter be held over until the next financial year; (g) that the cabbage trees in Rose Street be removed.

Without discussion, the council adopted the committee's report in toto.