WATERFRONT HIGHWAY.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXV, Issue 19928, 23 April 1928, Page 13

WATERFRONT HIGHWAY.

THROUGH TRAFFIC SOON. LINKING UP WITH ORAKEI. <THE ROUTE TO ST. HELIERS. • GOOD FORMATION FROGRESS. All being well,- the end of April should «ee motor-cars running along Quay Street end the waterfront road to Orakei, Koliim a ram a and St. Heliers. So far cars have been able to go only •as far as Hobson Point, Orakei, some two miles from Queen Street. Now the road is being extended on both sides of the ■point and very shortly it will be fit for traffic as far as Whakatakataka Bay, lying between the point and the Orakei Bridge. "Here it will meet a fully-formed and metalled road already brought down from -the higher levels of the Orakei and connecting with the cliff-top drive and all ithe other roads so far formed and opened in the suburb.

What is more important, motorists will Ibe able to reach Mission Bay in about a .quarter of an hour from town, and Kohimarama and St. Heliers proportionately later without going up on to the higher lulls. Although the road across Hobson Bay and along the base of the cliff will be surfaced only with volcanic tufa, there is no reason to suppose that it will not etand up to all ordinary wear this winter jnay offer.

Formation is also going on in the direction of Okahu Bay, where the native settlement is. Very little of the cliff has had to he cut away, except at the point nvhich is the hay's southern boundary. This has been trimmed down to an even batter. The fine pohutukawas lining the cliff are being left untouched. The stone facing of the road embankment has been 3aid for some distance and is making good progress. When it reaches the bay theTosd will run inside the line of the main sewer and then along the concrete top of the storage tanks, a quarter of a mile long, which was formed as a roadway when it was constructed a number of jyears ago. Already the Public Works Department has a gang of men doing preliminary excavation work at Okahu i*oint, near the sewer outfall. Before very long Aucklanders will have a good idea of what this fine pleasure-road will fce like when complete. In Hobson Bay the embankment is being gradually widened and in some parts the hand-packed foundation of the permanent roadbed is being laid down. The neatly-laid stone facing against attacks by the sea is extending yard by yard. In due course a concrete parapet will surmount it, making altogether about 23ft. of stonework from the harbour bottom to fhe top of the parapet. So far it has Blood all attacks, and there is no ground for fearing north-easterly gales in the future. Two temporary bridges are ample for present restricted traffic. They will be replaced with concrete structures later en.

It is not hard to imagine the waterfront road a decade hence as a - great highway, carrying streams of traffic to and from the city's eastern suburbs. It may do, much to relieve the congestion on the more direct routes between the city and the south-eastern districts, Otahuhu and the suburbs bevond.