BETTER MAIN ROADS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXVI, Issue 20175, 8 February 1929, Page 12

BETTER MAIN ROADS.

WORK AT WAIKUNE PRISON.

HUNDRED MILES OF HIGHWAY.

NEW BRIDGES TO BE BUILT.

Steady progress is being made with the reconstruction and metalling of tho main Auckland-Wellington highway in the section between Owhango and Horopito. Here, in the heavily-wooded region skirting tho western boundaries of National Park, tho Prisons Department has been at work for some years in building new roads and improving old ones until to-day some 80 rnilcs of highway, onco impassable in winter, now present a smooth, unbroken motoring surface comparable with the best macadam roads in the Dominion.

Tho organisation built up in tho Waikune Prison, which has tho reputation of being the only prison camp in New Zealand that makes a profit out of the work it undertakes, is responsible for this welcome transformation. Centred at Erua, two miles south of National Park railway station, it is at present employing 140 prisoners on road work, the men being housed in four model camps situated adjacent to tho various works in progress. Straightening the Road. Under the direction of tho officer-in-cl.arge, Mr. 11. W. Glynn, a new camp lias now been established at Oio, midway between Owhango and Raurimu, in order to concentrate upon the completion of the unmetallcd gap, which is hero 11 miles in length. Heavy culverting is in progress, and a largo number of dangerous bends aro being eliminated. Further south, between Erua and Horopito, a considerable section of tho road i.s being diverted to tako on a straightcr alignment. Bridges aro to bo put across several of the deep ravines cut out of the country by snow-fed mountain streams, and all hairpin bends will be done away with. One of the first bridges to go up will bo located in the gully below the great Makatote railway viaduct. The river here will be spanned by a steel and concrete structure 120 ft. long, carrying a bitumen surface, replacing tho old wooden bridge at present in use, the approaches to which are negotiated only with somo difficulty. The awkward bend over the Mangat.uruturu stream will be similarly treated. A great deal of heavy construction work is also being entailed, with tho object of abolishing the many level railway crossings which occur in this neighbourhood

Road-Making Equipment. The l-oad surface being laid down consists of a 6in. layer of rough lin. metal, covered with 3in. of finer chips, in accordance with tho Main Highways Board standard. All roads so constructed are being maintained by the Prisons Department, tho total length so controlled amounting at present to approximately 100 miles.

In addition to tho work proceeding on tho main Auckland-Wellington highway, a sub-camp has been within the boundaries of Park, where a start has been the construction of a new road to the Mangetepopo hut, at the base of Ngauruhoe. Both tho Tokaanu Road and tho Bruce Road leading to the Whakapapa huts aro being maintained by the department, and aro in good order. The road-making equipment at Waikune, always being added to, now includes four stone-crushers, 9 motor-lorries, about 20 horse-drawn lorries, three tractors, two graders, three steam engines for driving the crushers, and a petrol-driven roadroller. Tho four camps in which the prisoners aro accommodated arc spread over an area 32 miles square, and are located respectively at Erua, Horopito, Oio and Mangetepopo. Up-to-date workshops for the repair of machinery are conducted at Erua.