IMPROVED ROADS

Otago Daily Times, Issue 26719, 13 March 1948, Page 6

IMPROVED ROADS

CENTRAL OTAGO HIGHWAY TAR-SEALING OPERATIONS MAJOR WORK IN PROGRESS Numerous trucks, graders, steamrollers and tar-sealing machines are at present to be encountered on the main highway between Glenore and Roxburgh, where considerable improvements are being carried out on various sections of the road. Motorists travelling on this highway should exercise care, for, in addition to the men and machinery, empty tar drums have been placed along the roadway in such a manner that vehicles have to proceed at a moderate pace in order to weave their way between the eccentrically placed obstacles. In the Manuka Gorge great improvements have been affected to the winding highway. The road has been widened and bends have been eliminated. At the same time, the surface of the highway has been brought into excellent condition and should be ready for sealing at an early date. Indications are that stretches of this part of the highway will be sealed before the winter as equipment for the job is already on the site. Considerable improvements have been effected on the Island Block-Miller’s Flat section of the highway. The road is wide and well graded in this area and sealing is at present in progress. It is here that carefully-arranged tar drums make the motorist’s progress a series of graceful curves. The first part of the Central Otago highway in the Glenore district has been receiving considerable attention and the surface of the road is poor. The road has been raised and widened and new culverts built in preparation for tar-sealing when the surface of the road has settled and been made ready for the final treatment. Just outside Roxburgh a new bridge is being built, and between Coal Creek and Alexandra a fair amount of work is being done in widening and straightening the road. Eleven miles of this section will have been sealed before the winter. Other sealing on the Milton-Queenstown highway is being carried out at Nevis Bluff, the Victoria Bridge, and near Frankton. Many miles of highway on the main routes to the tourist centres will have been sealed by the end of the current financial year, and before next Christmas further sections will be completed. It should not be so very long, in fact, before tar-sealed highways will be available to the main areas in Central Otago.