AT THE HEART OF THE ROAD TRANSPORT INDUSTRY.

Call our Sales Team on 0208 912 2120

Sir C. Hurcomb on Roads and Bridges

17th January 1936
Page 37
Page 37, 17th January 1936 — Sir C. Hurcomb on Roads and Bridges
Close
Noticed an error?
If you've noticed an error in this article please click here to report it so we can fix it.

Which of the following most accurately describes the problem?

D OAD development and the reconstruction of weak .bridges were among the subjects dealt with by Sir Cyril Hurcomb, president of the Institute of Transport and permanent secretary to the Ministry of Transport at a meeting of the Leeds and District section of the Institute, last Friday. Speaking of weak bridges, Sir Cyril

said that for a long time the Ministry of Transport had been using all its influence to induce highway authorities, with the aid of 75-per-cent. grants, to reconstruct weak and narrow bridges, Too often these bridges belonged to railway companies and canal companies, and it was the aim of the Ministry to secure the reconstruction of all railway-owned and canal-owned bridges which were unable to carry weight exceeding 12 tons laden. .

About 2,000 bridges on main roads had been under review, and it had already been agreed that 1,000 of them required reconstruction. It was estimated that work on over 300 of these bridges would be begun during the current financial year, and the (Ministry would do its best to ensure that all the remaining bridges found to require treatment' were brought within the scope of the five-year programme.

. With regard to road development, Sir Cyril emphasized the fact that the road of the future, whether in urban or country districts, must be better adapted to fast-moving traffic. Referring to the sign-posting and the marking of roads, he said that the 25,000 signed and marked crossingplaces were a real contribution to safety. Commenting on the reduction during 1935 in the number of people killed and injured in road accidents, Sir Cyril declared: " Whatever may be done to improve our roads, whatever may be done to raise the standard of maintenance of the vehicles which use them, and whatever the multiplication and elaboration of signalling and other devices adopted by highway authorities, we must all recognize that at the root of the problem lies the behaviour of about 40,000,000 people as pedestrians, of, perhaps, 10,000,000 people as cyclists, and of some 3,500,000 persons as drivers of mechanically propelled vehicles, to say nothing of drivers of horse-drawn vehicles."


comments powered by Disqus