The Change in the Character of Road Traffic.
Page 57
If you've noticed an error in this article please click here to report it so we can fix it.
IN the course of a review on traffic conditions in the county, Mr. J. Wallace, chairman of the works committee of the Durham County Council, mentions that the census of traffic which is taken by the county surveyor every year on the Great North Road between Durham and Gateshead, and• on the Durham-Sunderland main road, is undoubtedly of great value for statistical purposes. The remarkable increase, in the total tenriage of traffic since. 1913 would not have been realized but for these statistics, and it came as a surprise to a great many people when it was asserted that the total weight of traffic to-day is over nine-and-a-half times that of 1913. Motorbuses have practically doubled in weight during'
the period under review and the weight of heavy motors and tractors has also considerably increased.
It is mentioned that formerly these classes of traffic, chiefly by reason of their unit weight, created a great strain upon the highways, which rendered it imperative upon the road authority to strengthen the crust by laying down a more durable foundation. There has, however, been a gradual change from the solid tyre to the pneumatic tyre which has proved beneficial both to the owner of the vehicle in reducing his maintenance costs, and to the highway authority in causing less serious damage to the roads. It would, therefore, seem highly probable that where a road has been reconstructed with good foundations even the increase in traffic will have little distorting effectupon the road structure, although there will, of course, be increased wear and tear.
It would appear, as the county surveyor has already advised the committee, that considerable expenditure will be necessary in future in order to widen the existing main roads in the county of Durham and to provide new roads.
Comment is made on the wish of owners of heavy goods-carrying motors and motoituses considerably to extend their area of working and to serve a more national than a local need. Both passengers and goods are »ow being regularly conveyed between 'the • north and south of the country.