_The Evening Post_, 12 March 1925:
RATEPAYERS PROTEST
A SHORTER ROUTE
THE WAY TO KARORI
The chief subject under discussion at a meeting of members of the #Karori Progressive Association last evening was… the urgent need of a shorter route to Karori and the western #suburbs generally.… Councillor J. Aston said that the council was really no further forward in the matter of providing a shorter route to Karori than it was months ago…
Mr. R. B. Sim maintained that the time for politely-worded resolutions had gone past… he had not been very long in the district, but he had been disgusted with the lack of decent facilities for communication with the city.
… Councillor B. G. H. Burn answered in spirited fashion that [the Mayor] Mr. Wright was most certainly not marking time in the matter…. [and] not a foot of [tram] track could be laid anywhere without the approval of the Government.
…
It was finally decided… by unanimous vote, that a deputation… should wait first upon the Mayor and later upon the Prime Minister, or Acting-Prime Minister, to lay before them the necessity of a shorter route via Bowen street, and to press for a definite statement as to what was intended.…
https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/EP19250312.2.153

#OnThisDay #OTD #PapersPast #Roading #Transport #Wellington #NewZealand

@airshipper
> we don’t have a big enough population to afford to maintain so many kms of safe state highways

Highways that seem to need constant patching. Unlike well-built rails.

Highways made of bitumen. Which is a byproduct of oil refining. As we learned when there was that fuss about the bitumen from Marsden Point being better than the imported stuff.

So like fossil fuels, roads aren't actually sustainable. Something we need to transition away from.

#transport #bitumen #roading #rail

_The Evening Post_, 22 February 1924:
WINTER TRAFFIC OUTLET
GISBORNE–NAPIER HIGHWAY
(BY TELEGRAPH.—PRESS ASSOCIATION.)
GISBORNE, This Day.
The Gisborne–Napier highway, upon which the Public Works Department has been concentrating its energies for the past three years, is now approaching completion, metal having been deposited along its full length. #Gisborne is thus assured of an outlet during the winter season, which it has not hitherto poss[ess]ed. The Department’h [sic] intention is to lay a bitumen surface on the road. The Chamber of Commerce is sending a message to the Hon. J. G. Coates, congratulating him on the completion of the road, and the removal of the isolation of the district.
https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/EP19240222.2.42

#OnThisDay #OTD #PapersPast #Roading #Highways #Construction #NewZealand

_The Evening Post_, 28 November 1924:
WIDER STREETS
A HUNDRED FEET BETWEEN
BUILDINGS.
The Works Committee of the City Council last evening recommended that steps should be taken to have subsection 189 of the Municipal Corporations Act, 1920, authorising the making of #bylaws fixing the building line of narrow streets amended to give the council power to provide:—
That no building be erected within 50 feet [ca. 15m], or such less distance as the council shall prescribe, from the middle line of any street.
That no building shall be erected on one side of the street within 100 feet or such less distance as the council shall prescribe, from the other side of the street.
https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/EP19241128.2.120

#OnThisDay #OTD #PapersPast #CityPlanning #Roading #Legislation #Wellington #NewZealand

_The Evening Post_, 22 November 1924:
         TAIHAPE TO NAPIER
  Good progress is being made by the contractors for the erection of the bridge over the #Rangitikei River at #Springvale, on the #Taihape to #Napier road. It is expected that the bridge will be completed in February, and will enable motorists to make the through trip from Napier to Taihape with little difficulty. A start is shortly to be made with the bridge across the Rangitikei River at the #Mangawhero crossing, and when this is completed motorists will be fortunate in having the choice of two routes between Taihape and Napier, which will then be brought within a four hours’ journey to the Main Trunk railway. Preparations are already being made to establish a through motor service on the first route to be opened up.
https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/EP19241122.2.163

#OnThisDay #OTD #PapersPast #Bridges #Roading #Construction #NewZealand

_The Evening Post_, 8 November 1924:
SEATOUN AFFAIRS
…
#Seatoun has been receiving a considerable amount of attention from the City Council of late in the matter of formation of streets, and the work done was gratefully acknowledged by the [Seatoun and Bays’ Progressive] Association. It was agreed that there was still much work yet to be done in streets where no footpaths [BrE pavements; AmE sidewalks] existed and where the roadway itself required urgent attention. It was also noted that portions of the footpaths in Church street and the Marine parade had been asphalted on one side. But the work was done in sections with stretches of roughly surfaced path in between. As the motor traffic at times is very heavy and the road in parts narrow, especially near the turn into Karaka Bay, #pedestrians were still inclined to walk in the middle of the road because it was smoother than the footpath.
The Association expressed the hope that the Council would smooth off the surface of the footpath all the way along the #waterfront even if it does not intend to complete asphalting for the present.
https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/EP19241108.2.87

#OnThisDay #OTD #PapersPast #Roads #Roading #KarakaBay #Wellington #NewZealand

_The Evening Post_, 19 October 1923:
           NORTHLAND TUNNEL
        TO BE CONSIDERABLY
                   WIDENED
                      ——
      LOOKING AHEAD FIFTEEN
                     YEARS.
                       ——
  Some little time ago the Mayor, Mr. R. A. Wright, expressed the opinion that it would be prudent, in view of the steady growth of #Northland, and… the probability in some future year of tramway connection between Karori road and Wadestown, to construct the Northland tunnel a width somewhat greater than was perhaps called for at the moment.… the Finance Committee… recommended… last evening… approximately the width of the Seatoun tunnel (27ft 6in [8.4m]) at an additional cost of about £4000 [ca. $500,000 today], which… was duly endorsed by the council.
  The Mayor… [noted] the example of one mistake… of a tunnel of insufficient width for future traffic…. The Hataitai tunnel could… have been made wide enough for the traffic of many years, and possibly… rendered unnecessary the very heavy expenditure… in the driving of another tunnel.
…
  The Mayor: “Well, this time I am looking ahead for ten or fifteen years. We must look to the future.”
https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/EP19231019.2.125
History https://www.wellingtoncityheritage.org.nz/buildings/objects/41-northland-tunnel

#OnThisDay #OTD #PapersPast #Tunnels #Construction #Roading #Suburbs #Wellington #NewZealand