ROAD CONSTRUCTION

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume LXXII, 14 March 1939, Page 3

ROAD CONSTRUCTION

IMPORTANCE OF TARSEALING ADDRESS BY HIGHWAYS BOARD REPRESENTATIVE TO MOTOR UNION DELEGATES The importance, attached by the Main Highways Board to the tarsealing of roads was stressed by Mr M. H. Wynyard, motorists’ representative on the board, when addressing the halfyearly meeting of the South Island Motor Union in Nelson yesterday afternoon. He said that nearly 300 ! miles of sealing was done last year, i The amount the Main Highways ! Board had been spending had been j going up year by year, he said. Some ! criticism had been levelled at the ! board in connection with the expenditure on some of the first class highways. Some people considered that these were luxury highways and that the board was going to extremes on grades and alignments. But it was little more expensive to make a first 1 class highway than to make a “half pie” highway which in a few years would probably have to be reconstructed at additional cost. The difference in the cost of first and second class jobs was not very much at all, | in proportion. The formation was only one part ‘ of the actual construction of the road. After lormation came and this was most important from a driver’s standpoint. The board was spending a lot of money on surfacing roads. Last year it dustless surfaced just under 300 miles of road. That brought the dustless surface mileage to 2415 miles, just about 20 per cent of the main highways. This year over 300 miles would be completed. The sealing of highways, was one of the jobs to which the board paid very great attention because it assisted in keeping down the cost of maintenance; it also removed a great element of danger arising from the presence of dust; and it*was of great importance to owners of land alongside the roads. In some parts orchard is Is were asking for tarsealing I of roads on account of damage to crops b.v dust. Another direction in which expenditure had been heavy was in the recon-*

struction of a number of bridges throughout New Zealand. Many bridges had been built over 50 years ago and all seemed to have come to the end of their period of usefulness at the same time. The board had been hampered by the difficulty of getting material and also the fact that the staff of the Public Works Department was working night and day in connection with different schemes and it was impossible to get all the specifications and plans necessary for the bridges. Mr Wynyard also mentioned the tourist industry and said that there was no country in the world where there were gathered together so many ■ beauty spots and places of interest in a I small area as in New Zealand. Transj port was getting faster and more people were travelling. He was sure the tourist industry was going to be one of the leading industries in New Zealand. No programme was so important in facilitating that industry as the provision of first class roads throughout the country to enable not only tourists but also New Zealanders to see the country’s beauties. Mr Wynyard stated that important reconstruction works nearing completion or recently completed included: Several miles of sealing in the Marlborough and Nelson districts; Moutere Hill realignment; Lewis Pass road, a portion of which has already been taken over as a main highway and the balance of which will be declared when construction works have been finished; and the Shenandoah route (from Lewis Pass to Murchison) has been commenced.