PORT IMPROVEMENT

Taranaki Daily News, 22 March 1935, Page 11

PORT IMPROVEMENT

PLAN OF NEW APPROACH. PROVISION OF CHAIN-WIDE ROAD, k. ' In a plan specially drawn lor the Daily News and reproduced on this page is shown the comprehensive scheme for widening and straightening Breakwater Road near the port of New Plymouth, :■ ratified as necessary for the port’s development, by a recent meeting of the Harbour Board. Tenders will shortly be called for the work, which, is included in the new £12,000 loan proposal. The plan shows a section of the locality from Ngamotu Road to . the Newton King wharf approach in which the main construction work will be undertaken. The diagonally shaded portion shows that portion of the new road .line, 66 feet wide, Which will require a completely new formation. The deeply shaded. sections mark- the portions of the narrow existing road, which will be closed when the scheme is complete. The formation qf the. diagonally shaded section marked “A” will require the removal of : approximately ■, 53,000 • cubic yards of spoil from the hillside through which the present cutting runs. The material will be deposited on that portion of the waterfront which would be marked by a continuation of the seaward margin of the proposed waterfront roadway which will meet the line of the wharf approach at right angles. ' This work will have the effect of reclaiming a narrow area of land at present below high water level and may eventually be used by the Railway Department. The l . greater portion of the spoil, however, will be placed in such a position as will enable the* Railway Department to remove its lines from the present to a new position. Exchanges of land have/ been arranged by mutual agreement between the harbour board, the borough, council and the department to allow the improvements to be carried out equitably. In view of the increasing traffic demands made upon the port, the provision of /some better means of access than the /present winding “bottle-neck” which scarcely gives room for two cars and is further congested by a tram loop, has been considered urgently necessary by the responsible bodies. Railway traffic arrangements will also benefit considerably as an area will be provided by the readjustment for sidings and shunting arms, necessary in handling port cargoes. - x It will be seen by the plan that a number of the beach cottages marked will be affected by the readjustment. The proposed waterfront roadway, however, is a development not expected for many years, and it is doubtful that any further resumption will be required. When, however, the time comes to consider seriously the new formation, and the work is gone ahead with, it will provide the western terminal section of the marine parade, which it is eventually intended to construct along the New Plymouth foreshore from Fitzroy beach.