BETTER SERVICE ROADS

Waipa Post, Volume 32, Issue 1777, 1 July 1926, Page 5

BETTER SERVICE ROADS

IMPORTANCE OF MAINTENANCE.

HIGHWAY BOARD'S POLICY

(By Telegraph. Press Association.) WELLINGTON, Wednesday.

'Speaking at the Rotary Club's luncheon on the elimination of level rail, way crossings, Mr Tyndall, engineer to the Main Highways .Board, agreed ithat the question was one of some seriousness, but he was convinced that it was not nearly so serious as most of the users of the roads would make out.

"To do away with railway crossings is not the job of the Railway Department," he said. "It is the duty of the Highways Board. The Railway Department, has met oils fairly in the matter of the elimination of about 12 of the most dangerous of the crossings. Motorists, however, have still got to use their heads and not butt into the trains."

Regarding the maintenance of roads, Mr Tyndall said: "There is an appalling amount of ignorance among those employed in the work; we have to educate them to their jobs and the Highways Board is trying to do it. I consider, that the maintenance of oil* roads is far more important than construction —thirty times more important. We must improve our maintenance and we can make.a big difference by concentrating on this point. Most motorists would like to see us put concrete roads all over the country. It would cost about 60 millions-at least, ten millions more than 'the railways have ever spent on construction." -a The first thing the board had to do, concluded Mr Tyndall, was not to build a few miles of boulevards near the cities, but to build up good service roads all through the country..