PARAPARA ROAD

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 90, Issue 168, 23 July 1946, Page 4

PARAPARA ROAD

BIG RECONSTRUCTION JOB STARTED PROBLEM IS ACCOMMODATION AND CEMENT

“Our two main problems at the moment are accommodation for the men and, of course, cement,” said the District Public Works Engineer, Wanganui (Mr. G. W. Sampson) yesterday, when asked regarding the reconstruction work now in progress on the Parapara Road, the main inland arterial link between Wellington and Auckland.

Another shortage which is affecting the rapidity of progress is that of concrete pipes—a direct offshot of the cement shortage. Work began about a fortnight ago, and the particular job on hand now is the three-mile stretch towards the southern end. When the road was first, reconstructed just before the outbreak of war, the last three miles at the Wanganui approach was not. completed, and it is this part of the job that is being tackled first. The area in which the work is in progress is of a confined nature, and there is no scope for the use of equipment. AjS this section of the work involves complete realignment, traffic through will not be affected.

The complete plan involves deviating and reconstructing the road at various points, and there will be much heavy work to be done, including two fairly big bridging jobs—the Ararawa, at Ore Ore and the Mangawhera, some four and a-half miles on the Wanganui side of Raetihi.

At present there are some 40 men on the job, some of them working about nine or 10 miles from Wanga. nui. They are taken out to the work from the city in lorries each day. A camp is in progress of erecuc K about 47 miles from Wanganui.

Great difficulty has been experienced by the Public Works Department in obtaining accommodation for men on the job. Huts were obtained from the State vegetable growing project from the Raetihi area, and military huts were requisitioned. State vegetable area huts are of a very suitable type for such a camp in weather like the present. The military huts, while not quite so good as the others, will be fo“und very suitable later on in the warmer weather. Military huts are now just coming to hand.. When the work is in full swing some 140 men will be employed. How soon the reconstruction will be properly in hand will depend on accommodation and also on cement supplies, needed for culverts and also bridges. There will be plenty of modern machinery available, Mr. Sampson said yesterday, but in the meantime the work in hand is being handled by man labour, plus lorries. Asked how long the job would take, Mr. Sampson said he thought it would be at least two and a-half to three years. It would be governed by labour available, of course, and supplies. For many years now the Parapara Road has been a subject of major importance to Wanganui. Not only is it important in the sense that it provides a central link with the central portion of the North Island, but also it provides an outlet, through Wanganui, for a thriving rural area—the southern portion of the King Country.