Photos show unsafe roads of 1930s
Council agrees to renew the appalling street surfaces, concretes part of Walton St using the ‘Skram’ method
It seems roading has long been an issue for regions throughout the country and Northland has certainly had its share of problems, especially in the more remote and rural areas.
Recently the Whanga¯rei Museum was gifted some extraordinary old photographs depicting the result of a similar conundrum which had frequently been debated, concerning the hazardous state of roads in central Whanga¯rei during the 1930s.
The condition of the principal thoroughfares; Kamo Rd, Mill Rd, Bank St and Cameron St, was rapidly deteriorating and in urgent need of remedial measures, a contention endorsed by motorists.
It was suggested to the Borough Council, that the matter of renewing the street surfaces be given serious consideration as the way in which the bituminised surfaces of the main streets were failing was proof that prompt and effective action was needed.
The public proposed that the council formulate a comprehensive roading policy whereby a section of roadway be put down in concrete during each financial year starting with Cameron St, emphasising “a concrete road put down properly provides permanency. Its first cost is its last cost”.
The basis of the community’s elucidation was due to an experiment that had been conducted a year earlier in 1933.
After extensive consultation, special meetings, conferences and reporting, the Borough Council agreed to concrete part of Walton St using the “Skram” method.
Skram, a new innovation consisted of a three-inch continuous slab of high-grade cement concrete. The whole slab being reinforced by a zigzagged meshwork of flat steel strips would potentially be cheaper to produce than bitumen, with a longer life-span and minimum maintenance costs.
In May 1933 worked started on the selected portion of Walton St being the principal route between Railway Station Rd and the wharf. It was considered “the roughest, most potholed street in town” so a test strip of concrete 12 chains long was laid down as an experiment.
Work was done by a gang of 14 men under the supervision of Mr J R Marks, consulting engineer to Wilson’s (NZ) Portland Cement Company which provided, free of charge, the concrete necessary for the job.
Concreting under the Skram method was intricate work necessitating careful workmanship.
When completed, the test piece of road carried heavy and fast traffic with frequent loads of up to 10 tons testing the surface’s durability.
The proposed width provided ample room for the passage of two vehicles with horse traffic not permitted.
Three years later, it was confirmed that the Skram design adopted had withstood the gruelling test and was showing no defects. It was regarded by engineers an extremely satisfactory result and successful experiment, yet the local bodies were still unable to reach a resolution as to which was the better option, concrete or bitumen.
With the roads still in a deplorable state, further council meetings were convened to discuss fully the merits of concrete and bitumen roadmaking surfaces while newspaper reports indicated that at times there were heated exchanges as the debate perpetuated, with headlines such as “decisions deferred” and “procrastination alleged”.
If it wasn’t for the photographs donated by Peter Geange, this event could well be forgotten as the concrete test strip is no more.