COUNTY ROADING PROGRAMME

Southland Times, Issue 23826, 25 May 1939, Page 8

COUNTY ROADING PROGRAMME

Better Highways In

Southland

OUTLINE GIVEN BY CHAIRMAN

An outline of the work being done on the roads in the county was given by the chairman (Cr G. W. Whittingham) in his annual report to the Southland County Council yesterday. Cr Whittingham said that a considerable amount of revenue was expended yearly on new plant, and the council was now able to give better attention to the class of maintenance and to the road surfaces and road improvements in general. “With the mileage of roads which we have in the Southland county,” he said, “the improvement of these roads is a major work even with up-to-date plant. Since the beginning of April, three new trucks have been purchased and the council is inviting tenders for one heavy grader to augment the present fleet. Most of the plant is now reasonably new and in a first-class state of repair. The council’s experience during the past two years has been that when sections of State highways are being constructed the county roads adjacent to these sections of State highways suffer considerably from the influx of traffic which is being diverted from the lengths of roads being reconstructed, and it can safely be assumed that this condition will continue until such time as the total length of State highways in the Southland county have been reconstructed and permanently sealed. “The council is facing a problem with certain lengths of county roads on which its cost of maintenance a year is greater than the council’s proportion of the cost on highways, and it would appear that in the near future some relief will have to be granted by the declaration of some additional lengths of main highway or by an increase in the present rate of subsidy. DENSITY OF TRAFFIC “With the number of motor-vehicles now on the roads and the speed of the present day vehicle, and the number of motor miles run a year by the individual owners, the rating authorities have a difficult problem to face in the maintenance of roads on which, there is a density of traffic. The solution of the l difficulty would appear to be the laying down of permanent surfaces on certain selected lengths of road to meet the ever increasing demands of road traffic and minimize the dust nuisance.

“Road transport is yearly increasing, and we find the returns from heavy traffic licence fees- growing year by year. This indicates that more of the

transport is being diverted to the road? and away from the railways. Farmers are now taking advantage of motor transport for the cartage of farm produce, live stock, manures, and so on. The cartage of fat stock from the farms is now firmly established, and the number of lorries engaged in this branch of business is increasing every year. In this county we have 4972 miles of roads of which 2473 are gravelled or formed, the length gravelled being 2150 miles—an increase of 30 miles over last year. The total mileage of highways in the county is 585, of which 172 f miles have been declared State highways, leaving a mileage of 4121 miles still under the control of this county. It means that only 20 per cent of the total length of gravelled road in the county is subject to subsidy from the Main Highways Board and 80 per cent of the total mileage of the roads have to be maintained from county rates. HIGHWAY IMPROVEMENTS “A certain amount of sealing work was carried out on highways in the county last year, the principal work being Edendale, Wyndham and Seaward Downs highways, costing £936, LorneTuatapere highway reconstruction and sealing at Wrights Bush (£442), reconstruction and sealing of the main street in Waikaka township (£1213), North Invercargill-Waikiwi main highway sealing (£1790). The mileage of sealing work carried out by the council last year was two miles and three-quarters, and the total amount of sealed roads for the county is 46. The Southland County Council has again expressed the opinion.that the laying down of permanent surfaces of highways is a national undertaking and the cost of such work should not be met by rates on the farming community. The motorists are contributing to the Main Highways Board fund by taxation and this taxation, in the opinion of the council, should be spent directly on the reading system of the county. At present 4|d a gallon of the petrol tax is paid to the consolidated fund for the relief of general taxation, and if the amount accruing from this source was available for roading, rural local authorities could greatly increase their mileage of sealed roads. The total expenditure on maintenance of main highways in the county excluding State highways was £8213 and the total expenditure on construction of highways £19,668, a total of £27,881 which represents a considerable proportion of the rates collected by the county. “Each year the council maps out a programme for the construction of new roads to give access to backblock' farmers and in the majority of the ridings the farmers are served with a gravel road access to their properties. Expenditure on new access roads to farmers last year was £24,306 and a fairly substantial programme is being mapped out for the coming year to deal with farmers in isolated areas. “The council has in hand the construction of a new bridge over the Oreti river, at Bay road and plans and specifications have been prepared and are now in the hands of the Public Works Department for a new bridge to replace the structure at Menzies Ferry. The cost of this bridge will be met from loan. The bridge over the Bay road at the Oreti river is being financed out of revenue. ELIMINATION OF DUST “During the past few months the council has given consideration to the matter of elimination of dust nuisance on highways which are carrying a density of traffic, and if finances permit, this year it is-proposed to commence reconstruction work on a length

of about 16 miles of highway, the idea being to reconstruct the roads and prepare them for sealing. If the season is suitable for reconstruction work, and work can be expedited, there is a possibility that a fair amount of sealing work will be carried out before the end of March next year. “The lengths of highways which it is proposed to reconstruct and seal are: 20 chains in Kennington township, 4J miles on the Lorne-Hedgehope highway running from .the end of the present sealing to the junction 'of the Kennington road on the Rakauhauka highway at Roslyn Bush, reconstruction on the Winton-Gore highway between Glencoe and Waitane, reconstruction and sealing of 20 chains in front of the Otahuti Dairy Factory, reconstruction and sealing of two miles of Dunn’s highway extension, sealing of approximately 110 chains oh the Winton-Gore highway running east from Winton, reconstruction and sealing of 90 chains of the Winton-Ohai highway running west from Awarua Dairy Factory, reconstruction and sealing of 130 chains on the Winton-Gore highway ‘ running west from Gore to Bowmar road, reconstruction and sealing of highway between McNab and Willowbank including the straightening of the Waikaka river and the rebuilding of the bridge at Howe, reconstruction and sealing of 20 chains of street in Pukerau township, reconstruction and sealing of 70 chains of the WyndhamMokoreta highway at the Wyndham Dairy Factory, and improvements to corners and narrow portions of the Kennington-Waikawa highway between Fortrose and Tokanui.”