FOUR-LANE MOTOR HIGHWAY BEING CUT OVER RANGES

Wanganui Chronicle, 17 January 1948, Page 4

FOUR-LANE MOTOR HIGHWAY BEING CUT OVER RANGES

Cutting direct through some of the roughest country in the Wellington area, the new four-lane motor highway which is to link Haywards with Pahautanui, is already taking shape. Eventually, it is intended, the new direct route will tie up with a good modern road to be constructed from Pahautanui to Plimmertcn, thus providing an effective outlet for Valleycoast traffic and obviating the long detour via the Hutt Road and Ngahauranga Gorge, says the “Evening Post.” Largely because of the necessity to enable construction to be pushed forward on the running of the big water-main from the Hutt Valley to Porirua basin, Johnsonville and the city, work has been accelerated on the Haywards hill section of the highway ,the general course of which will be followed by the pipe-line. For many months now bulldozers and an assortment of other earthmoving equipment have been at work on the Haywards Hill, and in sonio portions the new highway, as completed, can be easily visualised. Looking down from the summit of of the hill one can easily picture, by virtue of the huge cuttings already completed, the manner in which the new highway will slash across the existing winding hill road on its direct course from the hilltop to the valley. In soma ways, the Haywards job differs from other road-construction works going on around Wellington. For one thing, the hill is of such a nature that there is no filling; the highway is all “cut in the solid.” Accordingly, instead of adopting the usual practice of pushing the hills into the valleys and building the road across the resulting level ground, the engineers on the present job have had to dispose of a huge amount of rock and clay. Some of the metal —the more substantial kind—is being used to replace patches of softer clay which is not considered suitable for lorming the foundation of a highway, if it is to last. Some is being kept for application to the road before the the final surface is applied, but a great deal is being carefully piled up in handy positions so that in future, if required, it will be readily a-..o.ilable for any filling job in th? district. Although direct, tlie stretch of road fiom the valley to tlie top of the hill will not be straight; indeed one or two curving.* will b? a little more ironcuneed than the idcnl towing to the configarntien of the land), hut they will represent an extremely satisfactory contrast to the existing road. I T3P-GEAK GRADES, Grades will be varied, but will be sufficiently ea y to enable a fuU-size.'l car to fly i p the hill in lop gear. There may be portions oi th? high- ■

way where the two traffic strips are on different levels, but, generally, it is thought that for the greater part of the journey the levels will not vary. In road construction works the weather plays an important part. At the moment, it is favourable, and the work, which is up to schedule, is progressing rapidly. Most of the cuttings to the top of the hill are through rocky ground, but over the other side there are clay patches which are extremely difficult to work in wet weather. Consequently, those in charge of the job are hoping to get as much of the clay work done before Hie winter months approach. When the stretch from the Hutt Valley to the hilltop is practically complete, work wil be commenced in earnest on the remaining portion of the road, running down through Judgeford to Pahautanui, Here the same tremendous cuttings will not be necessary. The present road will be used as a general basis, but will be widened, improved, and modernised. In some places deviations will be necessary to obtain a straighter, safer and more direct route. ALWAYS OPEN. Bulldozers, carry-alls, rock rooters, mechanical shovels, and other heavy equipment have been continuously at work on the highway for months past but on not one occasion has it been closed to traffic. At the most there have been minor hold-ups. Warning notices at both ends of the road have let motorists know' that some delay might be expected, and most motorists have to-day some respect tor their tyres. Traffitf has, nevertheless, been fairly heavy at times. . When race meetings are on, whether at Otaki, Trentham, or any other of several courses, a large section of the population on one side makes a bee-line over the Haywards hill to th" other. Motor-cycles, cars, bases, and even horse-floats, with their pampered occupants, find that the HaywarusPahautanui road, soon to become one of New Zealand’s most modern highways, is a vital time-and-money-saving link between the Valley and the coast.