The Economic Limit for Road Transport
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AA STRONG hint as to the attitude of the .l.Government of the U.S.A. towards road transport is contained in a report of the Resources Planning Board on the country's transport facilities after the war, which was recently sent to Congress by President Roosevelt.
According to a statement in "The Times,". it recommends the consolidation of all the present Government transport development agencies into one group to be responsible for co-ordinating transport system and encouraging new forms.
The Government plans to establish travel by air as a major and integral part of transport policy, the Federal financing of railway modernization, the economic consolidation of operating railways into a limited number of systems arranged on regional lines to avoid systems of excessive size, and, what is more important from our point ot view, the restoration of mechanical road transport on a modern and efficient basis, with emphasis on the development of express highways.
We would like those interested in the future of road transport in Britain to pay particular attention to this last recommendation. America, despite the immense distances which transport has to traverse, has already in being a highly efficient system of road transport, with vehicles travelling often thousands of miles from their bases—distances which many so-called traffic experts in Britain would consider as economic only to railways. Here we cannot travel far by road without reaching the sea. Therefore, there is all the more reason for adopting the view that road transport, given suitable highways, could cover the whole area of this country without over-reaching the economic limit.