MOUNT ALBERT ROAD.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXVII, Issue 20623, 23 July 1930, Page 10

MOUNT ALBERT ROAD.

DISGBACEFUIi SURFACE.

COMIC OPERA POSITION.

PLANS FOR TAR-SEALING. Tho tar-scaling of Buckland Road and the loan proposals for tho concreting of the Three Kings Road help to emphasise the neglected state of Mount Albert Road, which in recent months has been Allowed to get info a disgraceful condition. So badly is the. road potholed that motor traffic has to proceed at a snail's pace and the greatest care lias to bo exercised to avoid sustaining broken springs. Matte.rs have not been improved by tho roping off of tho centre-portion of the carriageway to prevent its use by traffic. [What at first sight appears to be an inexplicablo action, savouring of comic opera, is accounted for by the fact that the road is under dual control, the boundary between Mount Roskill and Mount '.Albert running down (ho centre for a distanco of about a mile.

The Mount Albert Borough Council dome time ago put down its half of the road in concrete with a 4ft. strip in asphalt in the centre of the road to allow for the possible laying-down of tram tracks. Tho other half of the road, which comes within tho jurisdiction of tho Mount Boskill Road Board, was left in scoria, so badly potholed that motor traffic invariably used the asphalt strip in the centre rather than suffer an uupleasant jolting on the scoria.

Road Board's Proposals. The tendency thus created for traffic, going both ways to uso only one half of the road is the reason given for the Mount Albert Borough Council cventunlly taking the step of closing the asphalt centre-strip for traffic. In effect, this action has created the extraordinary position of one local body prohibiting the traffic from another district from using its portion of the roadway.

It is the intention of the Mount Rcskill Road Board to lay down in asphalt the .•whole of its portion of Mount Albeit Road, from tho Royal Oak corner to Vincent Road, Mount Albert, a distance of three miles, which will include the seclion of road under dual control. Plans find specifications for this work were submitted to the Main Highways Board last December and a £2 for £1 subsidy is promised. As tho cost of the work will be about £3600, the Main Highways Board will thus contribute £2400, leaving the Road Board to find £I2OO. This purti has actually been allowed for in the Road Board's estimates for the current year.

Pinal Approval Delayed. However, a hitch has occurred in tho final approval of the scheme. The Main Highways Board has been pressing for ft bitumen surface instead of asphalt and no word has yet been received as to when the subsidy will be placed at the Road (Board's disposal. Until then the work is / held up and there appears to be a disinclination on the part of the Road Board to spend money in effecting repairs that are regarded as purely temporary. Some of the worst sectors, however, are now being patched and rolled, a. steam roller being at work near Renfrew Avenue.

Tar-sealing has been very -widely adopted as a surface treatment for roads in Mount. Roskill. Buckland Road, a much-used bus route, which was for long in a rough state of repair, has now been tar-sealed tho whole of its lengtfi and the Road Board offers its now smooth surface as an example of what it is intended to do with Mount Albert •Road. The board's programme of works this year includes also the tar-sealing of Hillsborough Road as far as the intersection with Richardson Road, the completion of Pah Road as far as Mount Albert Road, and the complete length of May Road, Torrance Street and Liverpool Street. Two roads leading off Dominion Road have also to be selected for tar-sealing.