Gentle Annie to be sealed

[yod]

From the Dom Post:


The long-awaited sealing of the Gentle Annie road between Napier and Taihape has been given the go-ahead.


Sealing the last 35 kilometres through the hills will open up a new tourist route as well as improve the freight link, Hawke's Bay Regional Council transport committee chairman Alan Dick said yesterday.

A meeting of four bodies had sorted out a funding formula for the first part of the sealing project.

The total cost is likely to be about $18 million.

Some trucks used the road now, Mr Dick said, especially to take produce to the Port of Napier, but it was a difficult route for them.

Sealing the road would provide an extra arterial route between the eastern and central regions of the North Island - an alternative if main routes such as the Manawatu Gorge or the NapierTaupo road were closed.

In the first stage of the upgrade, 21km of gravel road in the Rangitikei District Council area will be sealed at an estimated cost of $11.9 million. Of this, Rangitikei will pay $1.8 million, Manawatu-Wanganui Regional Council $2.6 million, Hawke's Bay $1.4 million and the Government $6.1 million.

Hastings District Council has made provision for sealing the 14km in its area, and Mayor Lawrence Yule said he expected work to start in 2010.

"It will take three years," he said.

This is a mint bit of road

can't wait

[Skunk]

Noooo! It's good at the moment because there's a lack of cars on it...

[yod]

I doubt it will get all that busy anyway, it's pretty bloody twisty (read: fookin mint) and the Napier Taupo road isn't that much further north

[MSTRS:Me]

Noooo! It's good at the moment because there's a lack of cars on it...

Agreed. It's reputation will put many off, but...
Perhaps we need to wait until the sealing is done and swept, then construct a gate at each end and charge admission?

[Taz]

Who was gentle Annie and why were there so many of them in NZ or was there just one who got around alot and liked to sit on secluded ranges?

[yod]

Agreed. It's reputation will put many off, but...
Perhaps we need to wait until the sealing is done and swept, then construct a gate at each end and charge admission?

done

[NZsarge]

Agreed. It's reputation will put many off, but...
Perhaps we need to wait until the sealing is done and swept, then construct a gate at each end and charge admission?

done

Charge admission for everyone accept Kiwibiker i'd hope!

[MSTRS:Me]

done

I see it working thusly...
*pays* "Thank you - now we will be allowing this direction only for the next 30 minutes. Don't be on the road after that. Next..."

Charge admission for everyone accept Kiwibiker i'd hope!

Unless they are part of the founding committee, they can pay like everyone else. Bags me for Treasurer....

[Colapop]

WE LIKE GENTLE ANNIE!!

She rocks!! She'll be even better as sealed private motorcyclist's road...

[BIHB@0610]

Noooooo!!! Gentle Annie was part of my childhood!!! I like her just the way she is. I remember the family trips in Dad's old white Zephyr, and the regular stops by the side of the dusty road as I puked my guts out (motion sickness - terrible affliction - even now I can't play racing games on PS2 with my kids without burping and feeling nauseous .....).

Still, imagine it will be entirely fabulous on a bike when sealed .......

[Bonez]

It's a good road to go on know. No dought the more interesing bits will be straightened as part of the scheme.

[yod]

No dought the more interesing bits will be straightened as part of the scheme.

that's one thing I was wondering myself - just how much will they butcher as part of the sealing process.....

[Rosie]

.........

[Balrog]

Bummer, another excellent gravel road down the drain.

[tri boy]

+1 with Rosie.
And it will be interesting how many curtain side B trains go tits up, when the winds blowing up there.
A freight road it most definitely is not. Factor in the snow closures etc, and it hardly seems economical. But that has never stopped transit etc before.