STRICT ENFORCEMENT

Otago Daily Times, Issue 27040, 26 March 1949, Page 8

STRICT ENFORCEMENT

NEW AXLE-LOAD LIMITS TRANSPORT COMMISSIONER’S UNDERTAKING PA WELLINGTON, Mar. 25. The. new axle-load limits on New Zealand highways will be strictly enforced as soon as they have been gazetted and the new classification signs have been erected. The Main Highways Board said to-day that an undertaking to this effect has been given by the Commissioner of Transport. The board had recommended that an increase in the axle load from 5J tons to 6 tons would represent a reasonable balance between haulage costs and road costs, the board stated. This view had been adopted with the exception that two-axled vehicles would be allowed' a 6t-ton axle load on most of the present Class 3 highways. This had been agreed to so that certain British trucks of heavier tare weight and greater engine power would not be unduly handicapped. Axle-load vehicles with multiple axles spaced at eight feet or more will remain at the board’s recommendation of six tons, and vehicles with tandem or closely spaced axles will remain at five tons. These vehicles, the board said, were very destructive to road surface and deck systems. The existing road classification system will be abolished. Unclassified roads and highways which are mostly in and around cities and boroughs will become Class 1. Present Class 3 highways will generally become Class 2, and Class 4 highways will become Class 3. or in some cases Class 2. Class 5 will be abolished, and for a highway below the new Class 3 standard wet weather or saturated sub-grade restrictions will apply.