MT. ALBERT HIGHWAY

Sun (Auckland), Volume IV, Issue 1043, 6 August 1930, Page 9

MT. ALBERT HIGHWAY

THEME OF MANY LETTERS The recent history ol* Mount Albert Road has been written in numerous tiers between the Highways Board, he Mount Roskill Road Board, the - iount Albert Borough Council, the Auckland Transport Board, and the general wayfarer. Engineers’ estimates, road board deliberations. Local Government Loans Board decisions. Public Works’ engineers’ reports, and ratepayers’ polls are all interwoven in the story. The road was declared a main highway in 1928 and has been in trouble ever since. Plans and estimates were prepared to pave it with concrete and a subsidy of £2 for £1 was authorised by the Loans Board; but when the necessary loan proposals were placed before the ratepayers they turned them down. Since then thousands of pounds have been spent by. the Highways Board and the Road Board in futile attempts to keep the surface in reasonable repair. In March last the Road Board’s engineer, Mr. John Dawson, submitted a report favouring a bitumen surface to cost £3,600 to be charged to the general revenue account. A see-saw movement then commenced between the Road Board and the Highways Board on the delicate question of a subsidy. After five months' vexatious delay the Highways Board has finally agreed to subsidise the work by contributing £2 400, leaving the Road Board to find the balance of £ 1,200Wit hin 4S hours of the receipt of this decision the Road Board's men were on the job. Commencing from the Royal Oak end. the surface is receiving a coat of metal chips and a bitumen carpet for a width of 18ft. This will be continued to the Mount Roskill boundary, a distance of three miles, and should be finished in a few weeks. Thus maintenance costs will bo reduced to a minimum and general satisfaction given to motorists.