TRAFFIC SIGNAL PLAN

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXV, Issue 23142, 14 September 1938, Page 15

TRAFFIC SIGNAL PLAN

QUAY STREET JUNCTION HARBOUR BOARD ATTITUDE NO CONTRIBUTION TO COST "This is a matter for the City Council, and I believe that it should do its job, and that we should do ours," said Mr. AY. B. Darlow, chairman of the Auckland Harbour Board, at a meeting of the board yesterday, when a proposal that the board should bear part of the cost of installing vehicle-actuated traffic signals at the intersection of Queen and Quay Street was discussed. The superintendent and engineer, Mr. D. Holderness, said the council had been considering the scheme and suggested that as the traffic at the intersection was contributed to by the Harbour Board, the Railway Department and the ferries, the cost of the equipment should be shared by the various bodies. The city engineer, Mr. J. Tyler, had advised that the estimated cost was about £1853. "The fact that some of the traffic at this intersection comes from or on to the board's wharves does not, in my opinion, place upon the board any of the responsibility for its control on the city streets, and the assumption of liability in this regard might be farreaching," the report said. In addition, should the board feel some obligation in the matter, it would be necessary before agreeing to contribute to be satisfied that a corresponding benelit would result.

"The matter has been fully discussed with the board's traffic manager, who agrees that it is doubtful whether the proposed installation would materially relieve the situation and that in view of the complicated nature and variety of the traffic movements at this particular intersection the provision of automatic apparatus is not likely to justify its cost," the report added. "In the circumstances I am not able to recommend any contribution, which, in any case, would require legislative authority before it could be made." The report was adopted.