PERMANENT ROADING

Waikato Times, Volume 92, Issue 14263, 14 January 1920, Page 5

PERMANENT ROADING

SCHEME FOR WAIPA COUNTY. LOAN OVER WHOLE AREA. The subject of permanent reading came in for further consideration at tin; Waipa County meeting yesterday. The engineer reported as folIn response to the requirements of the Council, I submit herewith a schedule of expenditure of moneys proposed to he borrowed for construction of permanent roads, and in view of one of the objections raised against the scheme, viz., that it ought not to be a countv loan, but rather several riding loans,' I would further explain. It was the opinion of the committee first, that success at the poll would be much more probable if it was made a county loan: second, that the difficulty of obtaining the money would be less if the whole of the county were offered as security: third, the fact that under the proposed agreement each riding would be charged interest only on whatever portion of the money was spent within that riding, seems to ensure perfect fairness as between ridings; fourth, a further reason in favour of a county loan is the need of a uniform system of work. Of course in a preliminary report such as submitted tc the Council all details could not be gone into, but the idea is that a standard specification would be adopted by the Council, and all road construction done under the scheme would necessarily comply, with this specification. Then, again, in regard to the schedule pf expenditure on various roads, this also is a detail which was not thought to be essential in a preliminary report, the object of which was to ascertain the mind of the Council as to the desirability of adopting a progressive policy and going in for permanent road construction.

Cor, at £1,33,0*0 With reference to this schedule, I Would point out that the report mentions that there are about 130 miles of what may be termed important roads within the county, apd that the estimated cost of constructing them ,n some permanent way, is. set down at £103,000. I .have attached a list of these roads to this report, but as the recommendations which the Council was asked to approve only covered £75,000' I will oniy deal here with what might be done with .that amount —ana here we are immediately' in difficulties, for on whai principle is this comparatively 'small proportion of the total sum required to be allocated? Is the money to be expended as the first instalment of a comprehensive scheme, or is it necessary to cut it up io. little bits with the idea of pleasing everyone? Unfortunatelv the whole scheme depends upon everybody's vote, and everybody will have* to be satisfied, or at anyrate an attempt will have to be made J.O satisfy • hem before that vote will be secured. The Council -must first itself agree as to the line to be followed, and afterwards steps mustbe taken to convince Ihe ratepayers of its advisability. The most sensible policy seems to be to select those roads which in the immediate future arc likely, to be most expensive to maintain, especially in view of the establisbment.of dried milk factories, and deal with these first. I place these roads in;order of importance as follows: —From Ngaruawahia to Hamilton, 9 miles; Frankton to Whatawliata, .6J miles; Te Awamutu to Pirongia, 7 miles; Te Awamutu to Kihikihi. li miles; Hamilton to Te Awamutu, 18 miles. 1 propose that the first three mentioned roads, viz., the Hamilton-Ngarua-wahia, FranklonWVhatawhata, and the Te Axvamu tu-Pirongia, should be built ii. concrete, and , that in the event ot no subsidy being obtainable a single track of concrete Oft only in width should be used, with 3ft of metal on cither side, thus giving a total width of 15ft. If, as is hoped, a subsidy is available, then it might be practicable to put down the whole of the 15ft in concrete. I estimate that the cost of this work, with the 9ft track in concrete'and including the metal shoulders, at £2200 per mile. The length of the three roads combined is 224 miles, thus the lota) cost would be £19,500. Regarding the Hamilton-Te Awamutu and fhc Te Awamulu-Kihikihi roads, I stated in my earlier report that 1 could not recommend- the use of concrete on -rades steeper than 1 in 20, and on the roads in question there are numerous "•rad'es steeper Ilian that. I have, however, lately been credibly informed that concrete lias been used with success ou trades fully as steep as these we have here to contend with, and the question requires further consideration. In the meantime t estimate for a bituminous macadam road. The combined length of the two mads is 191 (say 20 miles). To scarify the metal at present in position on the roads, strengthen with an additional coat of fine metal, rolling and finishing off with a bituminous coverin'* at £2OOO per mile, would require a sum of £40,000. These two amounts give a gross total of £89,500, which exceeds the amount to be bor-. rowed bv £14.500. Thus one of three 1 hings would happen; either a larger ’man" must be raised, subsidy must be secured, or a. part of the proposed work i must go undone.

Schedule of Important Roads.

Niraruawahia to Hamilton 9 miles. ITaiiklon to Whatawhata GA, Te Awa,until to Pirongia 7, Te Awamulu to Kiliikihi IA, Hamilton to To Awamulu IS, Kiliikihi to Ora'kfui 3, Ngaruawahia to ’ Wliatawhala ' 9, ' Ohitupo to Camhridge 10. Xgaroto ■to Pirongia (through Faicrangi) dO, Frankton to Tuldkaramea 10, Te Rapa to le Kewhai 5 Cambridge to Te, Awamutu 13, Rukiu ii'ia station road IV, Olmnpn to Tuhil.arnmea Gl. Rangiaoliia to Kiliikihi 2, P t-ongia loTnhikaramea 10: total, 121

u (Jif‘ nmhon id Grs. Better and ! j \ ;nirshme. it was resolved that the , v - lo i4 )j(. adopted, with the amendment tied the amount authorised to toe raised toe sufliceint to complete the scheme, instead of the proposed' £73,000. The respective riding representatives have undertaken to place the proposals before their ratepayers prior to the poll being taken.