THE MAIN SOUTH ROAD.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXVI, Issue 20254, 14 May 1929, Page 8

THE MAIN SOUTH ROAD.

j With the change of seasons, fresh illustration has been given on the southern main highway of the evil results produced by the division of responsibility for the construction and the maintenance of arterial highways. Five months ago, a programme for completing the reconstruction of the road from Auckland to Hamilton was published. At the time, the criticism was offered that the works in the schedule might be completed in half the period of five years officially proposed. Attention was also directed to the fact that the remote prospect of permanent pavement was being used as an excuse for neglect of maintenance. The latter objection may be made to-day with greater force since the consequences of negligence have accumulated under the heavy traffic of the intervening months. The state of the road over the Bombay hills is a particular instance. The deviation has been made, but, for various reasons, the laying of the bituminous cover has been postponed until after the winter, and with the onset of autumn rains the new route is definitely closed. Yet after only a few weeks of concentrated traffic reports are being made of the difficulties encountered on the Razorback Road and of vehicles having actually been unable to negotiate the hills, owing to the deterioration of the surface. There can be no excuse for these conditions. If the opening of the deviation has been indefinitely postponed, whether for technical reasons or because of disagreement between the Highways Board and the local authority, the old route should be kept up to the standard necessary to carry the traffic. This is primarily the responsibility of the Highways Board, since it is charged with the administration of the whole highways scheme, and it cannot shelter under a plea of neglect by the local authority unless it proves that it has used all the means at its command to induce that body to do the necessary work. If the board protests that its efforts have been defeated, in this and other cases, by local bodies adopting an of non-co-operation, the situation should be made known to public and Parliament so that a radical remedy for this weakness in the organisation may be adopted.