These are just a few images I found recently of what the Southern Motorway used to look like. They were taken in February 1963 They were taken from the Princes Rd bridge in Otahuhu.
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These are just a few images I found recently of what the Southern Motorway used to look like. They were taken in February 1963 They were taken from the Princes Rd bridge in Otahuhu.
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“How will we separate 55mph traffic in one direction from 55mph traffic in the opposite direction? I know we can plant some little shrubs!”
But not like Singapore, which planted the ECP Changi end with moveable pot plants so they can use the stretch as an emergency runway in times of war.
A few years ago I did a safety audit for them of that section of expressway at Changi. When they need to water the planters in the middle of the road they run a water truck along the fast lane with water spraying out to the right. They use hardy plants!
I can see how it all seems like such a good idea at the time, free wheeling down easy flowing motorways. Well before 2 car households came along,, let alone 5 car households.
T’was the brave new world……………..but it didn’t last.
Around 1960 most of us couldn’t afford a car and if we could, we mostly couldn’t get one because they were doled out by dealers to their special friends, who then resold their old car at a substantial profit, such was the demand and such was the restricted supply – so very different from today
WOW – was this the ‘good old days’ or not – but as times goes time, so does the traffic I suppose.
lol I love these old photos.
We forget too, these people had lived through Depression and War, and the idea of ‘freedom’ was very seductive. Also I don’t think they actually saw the consequence for public transport, they thought these roads would be in addition to, rather than a replacement for public transport.
The USA charged headlong down this road but they had a nasty mix of extreme racial politics, different constitutional arrangements and a belief that freeways could move the population out of the cities in case of nuclear war.
All those private car drivers are basically farmers travelling to and from town.
No one else could buy (or afford to buy) cars in those days. Thats why there so damn few of them on these roads in these photos.
have a look at you tube Auckland pictorial 98 1960. Great sell for the motorway. Check out the amazing Newton interchange model. The days of optimistic Progress
Facsinating clip!
Another false hope at 1 minute in:
“was once all noise and congestion. But the passing of the trams have left clear streets where traffic flows can be regulated smoothly.”
now we are looking to re-introduce trams to reduce congestion.
Love the way in the model the interchange is built ontop of rice paddy terraces.
Is that the planned dominion road parallel expressway coming in from the bottom right?
Yes I think you are right because the foreground is Newton Road and the left is K Road with a tunnel towards the Harbour Bridge and Nelson St. So bottom right must be the central motorway. They had this weird system of publishing a centreline for a motorway and being able to take houses either side for 1/2 a mile so the actual route could vary during design. It meant they alienated thousands of people needlessly rather than just those whose properties were actually needed.
Wow. That looks like some farm land at Penrose. That’s long gone. All the old Hillmans and Austins. No lane markings. The days of innocence.
I recently purchased an aerial photo shot in 1953 of what would become the Greenlane East roundabout. It shows the motorway was built over land that appears to have had railway workers houses on it. There were streets there where the traffic now roars along.
I bought the photo because I was trying to work it why Derry St is technically in Remuera, while surrounded by Greenlane on all sides. The photo shed little light on that apparent anomaly.
My own house used to be 1 Derry St but was shifted to it current location in Adam St in 1987. It was interesting to note there used to be a foot path along the west side of the rail tracks and a footbridge over the tracks from – roughly – the end of Derry St to the platform. The big concrete block it rested on us still there today. I wish the bridge was. My walk to the platform would be well under a minute.
Steve,
As I understood your comment, your house stayed put, but the *street* it linked to was moved from Derry St to Adam St (i.e. the ROW location changed) (as its in the middle of the block, this was possible to do).
I looked at a 1953 Whites Aviation photo of the Greenlane area. (http://natlib.govt.nz/records/23506990?search%5Bpath%5D=items&search%5Btext%5D=whites+greenlane+1953)
The land you refer to, where your house is was I believe part of the original land holding for the Ellerslie Racecourse (if you look at the 1953 photo, there is some kind of “house” and large back yard where the motorway runs over what was part of the Ellerslie racecourse, and the land development pattern on the western side of the railway line would indicate that the land on the western side was once part of the “backyard” of that house so would have been considered part of “Remuera” district then.
[Probably had a big orchard?].
I suspect when the railway was shoved through here, they took the land for the railway through the middle of the backyard, but the “border line” for Remuera stayed put, hence the weird situation you refer to.
Goto the National library of NZ, do a search for “Whites greenlane 1953” you;ll see the photo I refer to. Take a closeup look at it and the pattern of the land use makes it fairly clear.
A local Archivist at the Auckland library can probably ferret out the relevant planning documents to confirm this.
Hi Greg
That is the same photo. It’s much clearer in the full resolution image. My house was actually physically shifted toward the railway line from it’s location in the 1953 photo. It now sits adjacent to the small triangle / wedge of bush opposite the platform to the south of Derry St. The original location (house and small orchard / garden) now has 7 townhouses in it. Thanks very much for the insight into how Derry St remains part of Remuera despite having been completely cut off from that suburb for many years. 🙂
Those photographs are no where near Penrose.
The top photo is taken from the Princes Street bridge Otahuhu, looking north.
The bottom photo is taken from the Bairds Road bridge Otara, looking north.
Oh right, thanks. That bottom one does look more sth auckland. Even further out, then, the farmland has disappeared to sprawl.