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Road Improvements in North Auckland
Kaiwaka-Waipu Deviation

(By W. F. B. )

The road traveller to North Auckland will, this summer, be able to traverse a new route between Kaiwaka and Waipu, a route nine miles long, but one that will reduce the distance between Auckland and Whangarei by seven miles. This route is known as the Brynderwyn deviation, and the Public Works Department have employed from ioo to 150 men, with about ioq horses, scoops, ploughs, three mechanical shovels and power graders, besides from 20 to 30 motor lorries during the past two years on the construction of this, the major work that the Department is undertaking in the North Auckland area. The base course of metal has now been laid and the road will be open for traffic early this summer. About two years of traffic will pass over the route for it to consolidate prior to the metal being sealed. Not only will this deviation provide a shorter, easier route to the North, but it will also give travellers an opportunity of viewing some of the finest bush scenery. Splendid panoramic views can be obtained from the highest point reached by the road, nearly 1,000 feet above sea-level, and from this point, views of both the east and the west coast may be secured. The present tortuous road commences at sea level at Kaiwaka, rises seme hundreds of feet, before it drops again to sea-level at Maungaturoto, and then from the westerly direction it has been following, swings north-east through the Waipu Gorge from the west to the east coast. The new route will follow an almost direct line from Kaiwaka to Waipu, being the base line of the triangle of which the old highway forms the other sides. This new route passes through sparsely settled country for practically the whole length, although at one point it strikes the Brynderwyn road which leads to Maungaturoto and at this junction an enterprising business man has already established a store, although the road is not open for traffic, but he is doing a good business supplying the workers on the road. Just after passing this point the road crosses the Piroa stream and then climbs through bush-clad country to the summit of the range of hills that forms the backbone of the district, then to drop to the fertile flats of Waipu, a settlement founded nearly one hundred years ago by a band of Scots, who building their own boats, sailed from Nova Scotia. In the construction, the Public Works Department, in order to bring the road up to highway standard and keep the grades down to a maximum of one in eleven, have put in large cuttings, the sides of which tower one hundred feet above the road level, while gullies are bridged with fillings of nearly one hundred feet of depth. The Piroa stream has been diverted to protect the toe of the large road fillings, while a new bed has been cut for another stream. The fine native bush through which the road in parts passes, has been protected as far as was possible when the road was constructed, and at one point two splendid kauri trees are standing, one on each side of the road. This bush is privately owned, but efforts are being made to induce the Government to take over the area adjacent to the road as a scenic reserve, and so preserve this fine bush scenery for all time.