MAIN NORTH ROAD BENDS

Taranaki Daily News, 7 November 1930, Page 9

MAIN NORTH ROAD BENDS

SECTIONS THOUGHT UNSAFE WIDENING OF CORNERS DESIRED. DISCUSSION AT NEW PLYMOUTH. The .need for attention to the widening of corners on certain sections of the main north road from New Plymouth through Te Kuiti was urged by Mr. L. M. Moss at the meeting of the Taranaki Chamber of Commerce at New Plymouth last evening. The chamber decided to draw tho attention of the highways board to the state of tho road.

While the road was in better condition than it used to be, said Mr. Moss, after recently travelling over the roads in the centre of the island he had .received a shock in coming on to the New Plymouth-Te Kuiti road and seeing how little had been done in widening the road. There were sections Of tho road not nearly wide enough to carry the traffic. The chamber recognised the good work done by the board in some sections, but there were others-—the section near Te Kuiti, the Otorohanga section and the Mahoenui section—which required attention. Very little work had been done on tho bends there for a long time. In many places no attempt had been made at widening and, while no-one wanted a speed track, the passing of cars on many miles of those sections was unsafe at the present time. A striking contrast, said Mr. Moss, was the road from Putaruru to Taupo which had been widened and improved. It rather looked as though the central part of the island was being pushed on and the work on the Taranaki side deferred. The Highways Board was making a tour of inspection and visiting Taranaki last. Some work was being done in the Uruti Valley but nothing comprehensive. It seemed that they were doing a little and then leaving it. “Just a palliative,” said Mr. P. E. Stainton.

It looked like it, said Mr. Moss. That the journey from Putaruru to Taupo coUld be done in two hours showed the of the widening that had been done there. Yet on the New Plymouth-Te Kuiti road there was many more times the traffic than on the Puta-rurti-Taupo road. Possibly the difference was due to the fact that the Putaruru-Taupo road did not compete with the railwayi Said Mr. J. A. R. McGregor. Mr. Moss thought perhaps the board was taking no action because it intended to make a deviation at Mahoenui. More likely, it was shortage of cash, said Mr. W. J. Penn. Sonic years ago the chamber had played a big part in having the main north highway put in its present order, said Mr. Moss. Motorists in Taranaki were paying a big sum in taxation and the board should see that the road was made reasonably safe.