HOMER TUNNEL

Timaru Herald, Volume CXLIII, Issue 20839, 22 September 1937, Page 6

HOMER TUNNEL

WORK TO RESUME IN NOVEMBER By Telegraph—Press Association INVERCARGILL, September 21. It is the intention of the Public Works Department to resume work on the Homer tunnel in November, and tenders for the heading contract are now being cal’ed. Due to the danger of avalanches at the tunnel mouth, work will be carried on only when the engineer-in-charge considers it safe, and operations will be confined to that part of the year when safety from avalanches can reasonably be expected.

Experience has shown that avalanches occur in the spring as late as the middle of October, and in the autumn as early as the first week in May, so that the working season will extend approximately from the beginning of November to the end of May. It has been found that the weather alone is responsible for destructive avalanches, and if snow falls on mountain tops round the tunnel, conditions are potentially dangerous until a thaw or frost has made them safe again. Particular care will be taken to guard against such conditions. At present about 140 men are engaged on the Milford Sound side of the tunnel in road construction and bridge making, and in November about the same number will be put to work again on tunnelling operations. After the tragedy in May the men engaged at Homer were transferred to the lower Hollyford road and to work in Otago.