ROAD WIDENING

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXVIII, Issue 23993, 17 June 1941, Page 8

ROAD WIDENING

STUETCH TO PENROSE EIGHTY-FEET HIGHWAY PLANS DELAYED BY WAR No definite information has been received recently by interested local authorities on the proposal of the Main Highways Board to widen the Great South Road between the Harp of Erin and Penrose, according to statements made yesterday. All the legal formalities between the One Tree Hill and Ellerslie Borough Councils arid the board were completed some considerable time ago, stated Mr. I. J- Goldstino, Mayor of One Tree Hill, yesterday, and the question of putting the work in hand lay with the department. Had it not been for the war it ap- j pears certain that the project would have been well advanced, but with more urgent calls on the finances and man-1 power of the country there is general, agreement that nothing can reasonably | be expected to be done until after the , war. No provision was made tor tne j work in the Public Works Department] estimates last year. The estimates lor the current year are due to be presented in the House of Representatives when it resume.? next month. The widening scheme aimed at providing better facilities for vehicular traffic, but this objective has receded appreciably through the restrictions causing a substantial reduction in traffic. Only at peak hours is there anything approaching the congestion that existed on this narrow stretch of the'highwav in normal times. The plans originally approved provide for the construction of an BUft. highway with a 'soft- traffic-way in place of the present 26ft. roadway. The complete scheme is designed to widen the highway to 80ft. as far south as Papakura, 'with the exception of the intervening townships where permanent building lines make improvements too costly.