A MAIN V ROAD PROBLEM.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LX, Issue 18576, 7 December 1923, Page 8

A MAIN V ROAD PROBLEM.

■ A; commendable effort to;face the reading problems created by modern traffic demands is being made by the six local bodies controlling th© first fifteen miles of the Main South Road after it leaves the urban area. The scheme propounded for the solution of the problem, even if it seems scarcely practicable, at least emphasises some of the , difficulties met with in an attempt to provide adequate arterial roads. In this particular case, there are three town boards, a borough, a county council, and a road board, all earnestly seeking a remedy for the present wretched condition of the main road. Except in the case of Otahuhu, they are severally doubtful of their ratepayers' willingness to grant the loan authority required for permanent construction. The ratepayers object to paying for a road on which, they contend, more than half the traffic would come from outside the rated areas. It is therefore proposed to finance the scheme by erecting five toll gates and thus make the users of the highway pay for it. But that way lies no remedy. Apart from the fact that the Government has set its face against any extension of the toll system, its operation would become an intolerable burden. If there are to be five toll gates on the first 15 miles of the Main South Road, how many would there be in the remaining 500 miles before Wellington is reached? The cost of staffing so many toll gates would itself pay the interest on a considerable roading loan. The local bodies must therefore, look elsewhere for their remedy, and in the present instance a very strong case could be presented in seeking aid under the provisions of the Main Highways Act. If the local bodies interested can secure the definition of the road as a main highway, they will then be entitled to receive from the main highways account grants up to onehalf of the capital cost, and up to one-third of maintenance costs. Such a measure of relief should reconcile ratepayers to the necessary expenditure and secure the construction of the road as desired. The local bodies concerned would therefore be better advised to give support to the existing legislation and press for its early application to their particular road, than to pursue a scheme that offers no prospect of realisation.