Highway Experts Confer
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MANY facts hitherto unrevealed came to light, and a number of fallacious contentions were exploded, when leading highway engineers and economists met at the Institution of Civil Engineers in London last week and discussed "The Highway Needs of Great Britain." Different facets of the problem, financial and practical, were the subjects of 10 papers delivered to the conference and summarized here.
Half Vehicle Mileage Run at 20 m.p.h.
A LARGE proportion of the traffic rTh. on the roads would be affected by improving a small proportion of the highways, said Drs. Glanville and Smeed, and if traffic could be speeded by 1 m.p.h. the annual • saving in vehicle-operating costs would be 136.5m. Sample surveys indicated that about 55,000m. miles were travelled by vehicles on the roads in 1956. In one zone, a quarter of the traffic was carried on I per cent. of the roads system at 10,000 vehicles a day, but half of the system carried only SOO vehicles a day.
Of the 190,000 miles of public road, 29 per cent, were in urban areas. There were about 2.6 bends per mile and 19 per cent, of the roads had a gradient of 1 in 20 or more. On urban main roads and trunk and class I highways there were about 0.9 zebra crossings per mile, 0.4 refuges and 3.7 pairs of bus stops. One per cent. of trunk and class 1 roads in rural areas had carriageways at least 40 ft. wide, and 67 per cent. were 20-30 ft. wide. Of class 2 roads, 64 per cent. Were less than 14 ft. wide.
Use of Multi-wheelers Nearly two-thirds of goods vehicles counted when using classified roads had more than four wheels, but on unclassified roads about 40 per cent, of the goods vehicles had more than four wheels. Traffic per head of population compared between rural and urban areas was in the ratio of-3.4 : 0.9.
Except in the centres of towns, traffic had been increasing at about 7.4 per cent. a year since 1950, although the rate for London was 4 per cent. The number of vehicle licences had grown faster at 8.2 per cent. a year. It was sometimes seriously suggested, said the authors, that it was not worth while building new roads because generated traffic (that which would not have existed but for the presence of the new road) would be so great that former users would be little better off than before, "This is clearly a generalization that does not stand up to inspection, for there are examples too numerous to mention where this has not occurred and, in any case, added capacity at the same speed is an advantage in itself," they explained. Between 1950-55 there was much road
building in America and in that period vehicle-mileage rose by 27 per cent. In Britain there was little increase in road mileage yet vehicle-mileage advanced by 44 per cent. "Thus traffic increases despite the absence of road building," was the comment.
In central Glasgow the average speed of vehicles was 8 m.p.h., Newcastle upon Tyne 9 m.p.h., London 10 m.p.h. and Edinburgh 13 m.p.h. In some London suburban shopping districts the average
speed was 15-18 m.p.h., and on about 7 per cent. of the roads of central London and 18 per cent, of central Glasgow the average speed was less than 6 m.p.h. Under half of the vehicle-mileage covered in 1956 was at an average speed of 20 m.p.h.
In rural areas, light goods vehicles averaged 40.5 m.p.h. on straight, level and wide roads, medium goods vehicles 34 m.p.h. and heavy 27 m.p.h. With the assistance of the Rees Jeffreys Fund, intensive investigation was being done at the Road Research Laboratory into the effect of road conditions upon fuel consumption. Preliminary results showed that motorways would cut fuel-consumption rates by about 24 per cent. and journey times by 26-39 per cent.
To diminish the accident risk, there should be speed limits on thotorways and vehicles should be so designed as to reduce the injuries sustained by occupants in collisions. As traffic increased, a growing proportion of accidents occurred in rural areas. In seven years' time, half of the road-accident fatalities would occur in rural areas, thus there was little validity in the argument that road improvements could not have much effect on accidents because nearly all
accidents took place in towns. ,
Fatalities were in lower proportion on motorways on which speeds were high than on ordinary roads on which speeds were lower but vehicular traffic was mixed with cyclists and pedestrians. On 62 per cent. of rural trunk roads the traffic was heavier than the highways' designed capacity, and if a programme. were started for widening trunk, class 1 and class. 2 roads to the necessary standard for the traffic, an average of 1,600 miles of road would have to be improved per year for 10 years to provide an extra 24,000 lane-miles. This would cost £1,200m.
Motorways Must Have Priority
QUTLINING a 25-year roads programme, Mr. Drake said that it should have these components: motorways; improvements to existing routes (including by-passes and diversions); and the improvement of sub-standard features such as the elimination of black spots. Of these a national motorway system should receive the highest priority.
He estimated that the cost of his suggested programme would be at least £175m. a year. This compared with £111m, spent on roads in 1955. • Although the figure proposed was large, the Government would be realizing it in extra vehicle and fuel taxation within two years because of the growing numbers of vehicles in the country.
Accident Rate There was no doubt that the volumes of traffic that the motorways would carry would be greater than on any other roads in Britain. This, in itself, underlined the importance to be attached to motorways, for which an estimated figure for the accident rate was 0.4 injury per 1m. vehicle-miles. This compared with 1.5-1.8 for ordinary rural roads.
The cost of improving existing routes would probably be greater than building motorways, but the selection of schemes was so wide that instances could be found where traffic volumes were so high and existing conditions so poor that improvements were imperative.
Mr. Drake suggested how sums could be apportioned for various improvements. A possible measure could be "equivalent passenger car unit volume times mileage." A heavy lorry, a bus and a coach could each represent three cars. Thus more money would be allotted for improvements affecting industrial traffic of which the proportion of big vehicles was high. Each year £4m. should be allocated for the elimination of black spots and be maintained to assist the planning of works.
"Segregate Pedestrians in Towns"
Q0 that vehicular traffic could move Is-) freely, there should be segregation of pedestrians on major roads in congested urban areas, proposed Mr. Nicholas.
In Manchester, he said, through traffic having no business in the central area constituted about half of the traffic on the main streets. The city's main road was originally designed to serve the buildings on each side of it, but today its primary function was to carry large numbers of vehicles. It had been recommended that four major ring roads should be built for through traffic.
Vehicles should be prohibited from waiting near traffic lights at busy junctions. Many drivers feared being trapped" behind a parked vehicle near .raffic lights and manoeuvred into the offside lane. This seriously reduced the number of vehicles which could take advantage of the green-light period.
No-waiting restrictions were unlikely to increase the capacity of town streets at peak hours unless junctions were reconstructed, or one-way traffic systems to eliminate turns to the right were introduced..
Chaotic Conditions
It was evident that central Government would be compelled to maintain purchase tax on road vehicles and a duty on fuels as means for restricting traffic so that chaotic conditions could be avoided. On the other hand, the policy of increasing the reward for higher production could hardly be successful if the opportunities which such reward should provide were not to be available.
Also, as more peoples of the world were able to "live on wheels," so must Britain endeavour to expand exports so that overseas sales of vehicles might remain one of the most important contributors to an improving standard of living. An essential factor in this was the maintenance of a good home market.
Taking all these considerations into account together with the vast costs of road accidents, apart from the resultant human suffering, and the enormous costs of delays and waste of fuel, the real answer to British road problems was a great expansion of highway construction.
Teach Driving in Schools"
WHEN the London-Birmingham motorway had been built and its cost was known, its value could be assessed in terms of the traffic using it. A great deal of information would •be available as a guide to the planning of other motorways in Britain: at present such information was lacking, stated Dr. Glanville.
B18 Because American roads were usually straighter than British, tyres in the U.S.A. lasted two or three times as long as in this country. Although a harsh road surface texture might reduce skidding, practically nothing was known about the price that would have to be paid in increased tyre wear.
Dr. Glanville thought that the art of driving and the working of vehicles should be taught to all young people at school, and that insurance companies should take more interest in research into accidents.
Value of Traffic Engineering
THE motoring organizations, large insurance companies, vehicle manufacturers and oil companies should donate funds for the development of traffic engineering in this country, proposed Mr. Duff.
In America, all cities of more than 500,000 population had full-time trafficengineering staff, and in Baltimore the traffic engineer was the most highly paid city officer. In Britain there should he greater recognition of the part to be played by traffic engineering in solving road problems.
It was sometimes remarked that it was not more research that was required but actual works. Nevertheless, said the speaker, many expensive schemes were still executed in the absence of traffic data or analysis when these might have indicated relatively inexpensive interim measures. Economic analysis based on detailed traffic-engineering studies of individual schemes was of fundamental importance.
Commenting on the parking problems. Mr. Duff observed that whereas the primary purpose of a road was for the movement of traffic, vehicles had no value unless they could be parked when the driver reached his destination. A resolution of the conflict between the desire to move and the desire to park was in important part of traffic engineering.
Annual Planning Inefficent
DLANN1NG for road works on an 1 annual basis was "hand-to-mouth and inefficient," alleged Mr. Lovell, who wished that the structure of authority concerned with sanctioning highway building could be decentralized so that on-the-spot decisions could readily be made.
So far as major improvements were concerned, the procedure evolved in this country entailed consideration of any scheme at 31 different stages_ "Can anyone be surprised if Britain appears to get nowhere fast?" he asked.
Under the present system, administrative work overshadowed the practical job of the engineer. Whereas a sense of urgency was necessary, local authorities who had to consider highway plans worked slowly because of the phasing of their committee meetings, and a Government department was slower than a local
authority because of Parliamentary procedure.
Lack of highway work had resulted in discontent among highway engineers, who had became tired of preparing schemes and never carrying them out, and the more ambitions young men were transferring to other types of engineering. This had led to the position where highway " engineers were often inadequately paid.
Mr. Lovell wondered whether an organization could be set up to handle land acquisition more expeditiously. Another matter on which for a number of years action had been promised but nothing had materialized was the consolidation of highway laws into one Act. By modern conceptions, much of the existing legislation was clumsy, caused difficulties, and should be amended.
Foreign Engineers Not Needed
THE Minister of Transport was taken
to task by Mr_ Harding for allegedly stating that he hoped he would not have to engage foreign road designers because of the shortage of engineers in Britain.
"This is indeed a startling statement," commented Mr. Harding. " The county engineer has been aching for the chance to design new roads as part of his chosen profession. It would he a poor thing if the country which produced Telford and Macadam, and which gave the railway to the world, had to import foreign engineers to demonstrate bow to build a road."
Whereas our natural resources of road stone and concrete materials were the envy of less-fortunate countries, the chief restrictions in Britain were uneconomic haulage distances and the disfigurement of the countryside.
Slaves to Standards
It had been said that we were becoming slaves to standard specifications. There were many places in Britain where concreting sands and aggregates to meet British Standards had to be transported many miles. Local sands and aggregates could sometimes be used with safety. by modifying designs and specifications.
Whilst new roads would greatly improve communications, there would be a loss of agricultural land as LOGO miles of new road might well sterilize20,000 acres of farming soil. In the making of the roads, an equivalent area of top soil would have to be moved.
Could not an assessment he made as to whether it would be possible to direct the top soil to be used to reclaim some previously sterile areas so that they could be brought back into cultivation, asked the speaker. The short-term estimate for carrying this soil for long distances and for spreading it would be high but it was not too late to try to take a long-term view. .
Serious thought should be given to letting the Royal Engineers undertake the building of specified lengths of new roads., They had men to train, and it was surely better for them to be instructed upon road work rather than by digging holes at Chatham and back-filling them. Although such a use of the military
would conflict with civilian employment, the interests of the country should come before sectional interests.
When contracts were to be placed by • public authorities, the urge was to accept the lowest tenders and to give the opportunity to tender to all contractors. However, if a contractor had only a small chance of obtaining a job, his decisions in tendering were affected and a great waste in manpower was caused to a number of companies.
These man-hours had to be paid for arid so were carried to overheads, eventually becoming spread over other tenders. The economies which were expected by inviting a large number of competitors were somewhat illusory from the viewpoint of the country's economy when five or six competitors would be ample.
Lost the Rhythm
A bad habit was to call for tenders to be returned by a' certain date and then allow months to elapse while they were examined. During the time lapse, contractors tendered for other work, lost the rhythm of the seasons on which the tender was based and picked up further commitments where minds were more decisive.
Each of the proposed Forth, Humber and Severn suspension bridges would take about five years to build. It should. be decided to proceed with all three and to start work upon them at a staggered rate of about two years. This would evenly spread the work of foundation sinkers, cable spinners and general steel erectors, each of whom formed distinct groups of specialists.
If all three projects were started at once, it would be necessary quickly to form a labour forcethree times bigger than necessary.
Shortage of Road Engineers
ALTHOUGH county authorities I—% required half as many more road engineers than as at present to meet commitments under the expanded highway programme, qualified men were moving to more lucrative employment. This was a situation which had to be dealt with immediately, contended Prof. Cassie and his co-authors.
In the early days of their careers, civil engineers had to carry more responsibility than other types of engineer, and it was therefore necessary to develop their consciousness of responsibility and acceptance of it. At present there was a lack of training in management and human relations.
Scientific study of traffic flow had not been pursued in a sufficiently fundamental manner. Post-graduate courses offered in British universities were being• followed more by overseas engineers than British—a situation in which foreigners obtained the benefit of Treasury-financed courses and which resulted from the shortage of practising civil engineers in this country.
A study ought to be made of the train.ing and qualifications of technicians
There was an urge by technicians who developed skill and ambition to proceed to become qualified civil engineers. This led to difficulties, as in highway engineering it was as well to have a defined section allocated to technicians' duties. Proper recognition of technicians was essential if this was to be achieved.
A clearer distinction -should be made between the fields of the highway engineer and the technician. Each was equally important and should be comprised of groups of men adequately paid and proud to belong to either. Technicians and draughtsmen should .realize that 'their. work -was as essential as that of the engineer..
Britain's Most Urgent Task
THE effects of road congestion had
become so widespread that the need to take corrective action ranked as one of -the most urgent tasks to be undertaken today, declared Mr. Brunner. Because of the arrears of work to" be overcome and as this country had entered a period in which its economic survival as a major power was at stake, -the gravity of the situation amid not be iliocag0ra ted, he warned.
. Britain's total economic loss, because -of the lack of adequate reads, could not be less than £500m. a year—equivalent to the cost of maintaining the Royal Air Force.
A large project such as the Slough bypass, costing £2m., would give a rate of return of 10 per cent, a year, whilst £1.1m. expended OD a Brentford by-pass would yield 35 per cent. a year. Investment in roads muSt be planned. The present system of financing roads from an annual budget was quite -unsuitable, as those who actually carried out much of the work, the local authorities, did not know in advance what sums would lie forthcoming,
If cities were to continue to exist at all, the private car must be provided for by suitable roads and garages. Unless the authorities took radical action to deal with congestion, including the provision of off-the-street parking facilities for people who wished to come into town by car, there was a grave danger that city centres would decay and central areas become derelict.
Infuse New Life
There should not only be multi-storey garages but multi-level roads, suggested Mr. Brunner. It was better to infuse new life into a city than abandon it. The motor vehicle had to , be accepted and catered for, otherwise the penalty would be the death of the city. Palliatives aimed at making it difficult or unpleasant to use vehicles in cities• would merely hasten their decay and encourage the removal of all forms of human activity from them. Today, about half the total vehiclemileage was on roads in built-up areas. The cities and towns were faced with a pressing traffic congestion problem. Although the apoplectic condition of traffic in the City of London was well known, no new road had been built in the area
for more than 80 years, and work had started on only one new thoroughfare. However, at the end, of 1956, work was in progress on the construction of new buildings to the value of £32m.
An increase of 2 m.p.h. in the average speed of 28,000 commercial vehicles employed in Birmingham each day would save £2m. a year to the industriesconcerned. A company with 12 factories on the outskirts of Birmingham had stated that it had 300 vehicles carrying goods between those factories with an average journey of five miles. Because of traffic congestion these journeys each averaged • 30 . minutes; but if -the speed could be increased from 10 m.p.h. to 12 m.p.h.. the company calculated that it would save £20,000 a year.
Apart from a direct saving in transport costs, a new road between South Wales and the Midlands would probably result in a great increase in productivity and in the general prosperity of the areas served. The allocation of factories would be facilitated, and industries would be drawn to some of the smaller centres along the line of the route.
Efficient Movement Bus operators sometimes argued that if urban motorways were built they would only attract more cars, but urban motorways were just as essential for the efficient movement of goods and bus traffic. As cities sprawled over wide areas, so more people had found that they could not travel to and from work by public transport without more than one change.
In these circumstances, many had come to prefer car travel. This inevitably reduced the traffic carried by public transport, and it was a delusion to suppose that the trend could be checked, Mr. Brunner asserted.
£35500m. for Adequate Highways THE cost of providing .anadequate highway system would total £3,500m., said Mr. Nicholas and Mr. Wilkes. In gathering facts for the calculation of this estimate they had been astonished at the paucity of information, and how conflicting much of that available was.
It seemed reasonable to expect that the average cost either per head of population or per mile:of road to be built would be higher in large towns than in Small. Requirements of most small towns might be satisfied. by the removal of through traffic.
Eight hundred miles of scheduled motorway at £350,000 per mile wo-rked out to £280m., but the authors felt_tht a further 1,000 miles of trunk road Would need to be converted into motorways. This would probably cost £300,000 a mile. Another 6,000 miles of trunk road would require improvement at a cost of £100,000 a mile.
The use of 8-ft.-wide buses and the practice of carrying wide pieces of agricultural machinery on class 3 and unclassified roads demanded improvernents which would require an expenditure of £235m.