Few Heavy Loads on Motorway
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WHY have so few abnormal indivisible loads been carried on the London-Birmingham motorway? Hertfordshire Constabulary put this question to the heavy haulage functional group of the Road Haulage Association. The group have given three reasons: (1) There are no refreshment facilities. (2) The cost of dealing with breakdowns is excessive. (3) The hard shoulder would not withstand the weight of an exceptional load if the vehicle had to draw off the carriageway.
There was a discussion at the group's annual meeting, last week, about the movement of abnormally high loads. Negotiations are being conducted with British Railways concerning overhead cables on the new electrified lines, which have a standard headroom of 16 ft. 6 in. Efforts are being made to persuade the railways to provide for the temporary raising of the cables at level crossings to permit the passage of loads exceeding 16 ft. 6 in. high.
Representations are being made also to the Ministry of Transport about pedestrian footbridges over main roads, which also have a standard height of 16 ft. 6 in.
Mr. 0. G. Wynn was re-elected chairman of the group. Mr. T. Venn and Mr. E W. Voller were elected ‘;icechairmen.