BIG IMPROVEMENTS NOW BEING MADE TO CANTERBURY ROADS.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 18804, 5 July 1929, Page 16

BIG IMPROVEMENTS NOW BEING MADE TO CANTERBURY ROADS.

AGGRESSIVE POLICY ADOPTED BY COUNTIES. Within the next few years, virtually the whole of the main road between the Hurunui and Hinds will be laid down in high class paving. Already several miles of permanent paving has been laid down near the city, and a good deal of additional work is in hand or authorised. The reproach that the Canterbury highways are among the most backward in thiDominion is no longer justified, for it is probable that at the present time the full share of the Main Highway Board’s funds to which this province is entitled is being expended. Apart from the reconstruction of highways several new bridges are in course ol erection at present and at numerous places roads are being improved by the elimination of dangerous curves and grades. Yesterday, Mr F. Langbein, District Engineer for the Public Works Department, explained to a “ Star ” reporter who accompanied him on a visit to the new bridge now in course of erection over the Hurunui River the progress which is being made in bringing the whole of the Main North Road in Canterbury up to a high standard of construction. The approximate cost of cement concrete construction is £6500 a mile, compared with £5500 a mile for bituminous concrete construction. It is the intention of the Main Highways Board to carry out a considerable amount of the cheaper form of paving on the roads seme distance from Christchurch. The Ashburton County Council, for instance, proposes to reconstruct the main highway from the Rakaia River to Hinds, with the cheaper form of paving, but the work is temporarily held up owing to a dispute between the County; Council and the Main Highways Board as to the amount of interest to be paid on the money which the board proposes to lend to the county. The board has intimated that it intended to charge per cent interest, but the County Council has offered 5 per cent only, a difference of

£69 per annum being involved over a period of ten years. When the pavement is laid down between Rakaia and Hinds, the only sec 1 tion between the city and Hinds no* reconstructed in permanent materials will be that from Rolle-ston to Rakaia This section is under the control of the Springs, Ellesmere, Malvern and Selwyn County Councils, ana the Progress League intends to call a conference of the parties interested with the object of endeavouring to agree upon proposals foi submission to the Main Highways Boara. IMPROVEMENTS IN HAND. Already the new concrete road between Sockburn and Templeton is in use, and only about fifty chains remain to be concreted of the section between Templeton and Rolleston. This road will be open to traffic in about six weeks’ time. The section of the Main North Road in the Eyre County, from the new bridge over the Waimakariri to the Kaiapoi Borough boundary, i.s to be reconstructed in cement concrete, and tenders for the work arc now being invited. A start will probably be made within the next two months. For the purpose of securing some continuity of pavement, the Main Highways Board has specified cement concrete construction for the whole of the road from Chaney’s to Woodend, but north of Woodend a cheaper form of construction will be adopted. A £3 to £1 subsidy has also been granted to the Kaiapoi Borough Council by the board for the reconstruction of the section of the main highway running through the borough. Plans and specifications for this work have been practically completed, and will shortly be submitted to the Borough Council. The road is to be constructed of Portland’ cement concrete to the Highways Board's standard width, and the Borough Council proposes to tar seal the portion between the edge of the concrete and the footpath from the railway crossing to the Post Office. The carriageway on the bridge over the north branch of the Waimakariri is to be widened by the inclusion of the footway on the downstream side, and a new footway will be erected at the side of the bridge. The principal activity on the Main North Road at present is the reconstruction in cement concrete of the section of about three miles from the Kaiapoi borough boundary to Wood end, in the Rangiora county A contract for this work was • let recently to Road Constructors, Ltd., a Dunedin firm, and operations have been com-