Jet a move on says BRF man
Page 11
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ilS IS the age of the road and a sooner Government and rail ficials realise this the better, bert Ingram, industrial liaison Ivisor to the British Road Fedation, said when he spoke out the future of British road velopment.
Industry is switching to road insport in increasing numbers, r Ingram pointed out. "In 1953 I had 42 per cent of freight iffic, while road had just 32 per nt. But in 1981 the tables were Tied. Rail traffic totalled a are 14.2 per cent and road traf shot up to 77.6 per cent." This is due to industry "coming to 3 and realising the advantages road transport," Mr Ingram plained.
Never before has there been great a need for an efficient 3ans of transport. "Eight out of tonnes of freight are carried road and nine out of every 10 ssenger miles are travelled by 3d," he said.
■ Ar Ingram also highlighted a int missed by most environmtal groups: lorry traffic in -al and urban areas has gone wn by one tenth and one
entieth respectively, while ry traffic on motorways has :reased by over one third.
)escribing himself as the eterI optimist for Britain's future, Ingram went on to talk about Ivernment road expenditure d taxation. Public expenditure road construction and mainlance has fallen by almost 20 r cent in real terms in the last years, despite a 10 per cent a in vehicles on the roads.
'Many villages are still with the bypasses they were nnised, while the state of the ridon road network has rightly an described as a national indal," Mr Ingram said.
rhe BRF has estimated that 000m would be needed to tel a decent road system in idon.