THE ROTORUA ROADS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXVIII, Issue 20969, 4 September 1931, Page 12

THE ROTORUA ROADS.

MANY IMPROVEMENTS MADE. THE HIGHWAY TO TAUPO. WORK IN GALATEA AREA. [from otto own correspondent.] ROTORUA, Thursday. The progress of the Rotorua district is reflected in the largo areas which are being thrown open for development in its vicinity, and tho extent to which roading and other facilities are being improved to give better access 'to the blocks which are being brought under cultivation. One of the most important of these roading works is the reconstruction of the Rotorua-Taupo main highway, which has now been straightened to the 18-mile peg and can be ranked a.s a first-class motor road. The elimination of unnecessary and difficult bends has improved the visibility, while the construction of curves on modern principles of super-elevation has made the negotiation of previously difficult bends a simple mattor. The reconstruction has resulted in a shortening of the road by one mile. The Atiamuri Road. Twelve and a-half miles of the Atia-muri-Rotorua Road have been widened, straightened and metalled as far as the Taahunaatara Stream bridge. This reconstruction work on the Atiamuri Road is vitally important to the progress of the land development schemes at present under way in the HoYohoro and adjacent blocks. Fifteen miles of new road has been constructed and five miles metalled in the Whirinaki roading system, which is designed to serve the extensive land development scheme being carried out by the Agricultural Department and the Lands Department in tho Ngakuru and Guthrie blocks. Reconstruction and widening work has been carried out on 20 miles of the Ruata-huna-Waikaremoana Road, while several miles of the worst section have been metalled and pumiced. During the reconstruction operations every opportunity has been taken to shorten the route of tho old road by means of suitable deviations. This has already resulted in a saving of one and a-half miles in actual distance, • Subdivision at Galatea. Thirty-eight miles of new settlement roads have been constructed within the Galatea estate, and on the Te Teko-Waiohau-Galatea Road provision has been made for the immediate metalling of 12 miles. A new 100 ft. steel girder bridge has just been completed over the Whirinaki Stream, giving access to the south end of the estate from the RotoruaRuatahuna main road. In connection with the subdivision of the Galatea Estate, the Public Works Department is carrying out 180 miles of fencing. Already 20,000 totara posts have been split and the balance required will be split within the next three months. A total of 230,000 battens will also bo required for this job, and. will be cut by the end of this period. Plans and specifications are also being prepared for 60 settlers' cottages to be erected on tho estate. In addition to these activities, during the past 18 months the Public Works Department has undertaken the construction of the Ward Baths in the Government Gardens, the bitumen sealing of 26,000 square yards of the main drive in the gardens, and the intensive maintenance with motor graders of 300 miles of main highways and other roads in Rotorua, Whakatane and Taupo Counties. Four dangerous one-way bridges on the Roto-rua-Whakatane main highway have recently been replaced by full-length, reinforced concrete structures, and tenders are shortly being called for the erection of further bridges on the Rotorua-Galatea Road.