New Roads for Old
Page 38
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1 N these' lean times, one must sympathize with the British Road Federation and other organizations endeavouring to obtain some iniprovernent in the country's road system. Improvements and the construction of new motorways are urgently required, and the need mounts' as the years go by with so little done and
the arrears growing. • Nothing can disguise the fact that the cost of building In adequate road system would be enormous, probably at least 1500,000,000. ' Such a figure seems meaningless and unrealistic . when economy and austerity are the order of the day; and look like being the order of to-morrow. The B.R.F. is talking in terms of pounds, whilst the Government is disposed to act only in terms of shillings and pence.
The cut announced by Sir Stafford Cripps of £1,250,000 in "abnormal road expenditure" may seem reasonable in comparison with the total estimated economies in capital expenditure of £140,000,000. It is a serious blow to the road user, who, year after year, has been disappointed in his hope that some of the money he paid in taxation would be returned in the form of better roads.
"The Economic Survey for 1949 !' estimated expenditure on roads this year at £51,700,000, made up of £44,900,000 for maintenance and £6,800,000 for improvement. There was no provision for new road construction. .
The figure of £44,900,000 for maintenance work, to be concentrated on the most important roads, is about three-quarters of the 1936-39 average', and is even then more than the £38,000,000 spent during 1948. "The Economic Survey" rather -grudgingly admits that the amount had to be increased because "road surfaces might deteriorate to such an extent that the ultimate cost of essential repairs would be disproportionately high."
In the same way, although the very modest estimate of £6,800,000 for improvement this year exceeds the • 1948 figure by £2,200,000, it must be remembered that last year, work on road improvements was considerably reduced, or postponed, to save labour and materials. Road expenditure has been cut to the bone for as far back as one may care to remember, and the proposed new cut of £1,250,000, therefore, presents a serious problem.
Cuts in Natio
"Out on a Limb".
It is a coincidence, and not a particularly happy one, that the Chancellor's speech was made at about the same time as the B.R.F. announcement of an exhibition to be held in Cardiff for the purpose of drawing public attention to the urgent need for an adequate system of roads serving South Wales. The B.R.F., through no fault of its own, finds itself out on a limb. Its vision of a splendid network of roads seems at the moment no more than a mirage. It is grasping for the fruit before the tree .has appeared above the ground.
Not that the &RT. has spared any pains in the planting of the seed and the cultivation of the soil. Given reasonable conditions, the .Cardiff exhibition
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seems a. logical step following what has so far been done. Better roads in South Wales were promised some time ago by the Minister of Transport. In February, 1946, during a debate in Parliament on the promotion of traffic from the South Wales ports, Mr: 13afries expressed the hope of developing the road system. in "the next year or twia." He made Specific refetence to the road from Swansea to Port Talbot, Cardiff, Newport, across the Severn, and a fast motorway through to the .Midlands.
No Development
• The "next year or two" have' come and gone, and no noticeable development has taken place, although more is known of what steps the Ministry would take if the will and the means were available. Plans include a 76-mile motorway linking Birmingham and Bristol, other .motorways, a new road bridge over the Severn and the improvement of a considerable mileage of trunk roads.
In addition, since the Minister's speech in February, 1946, we have had the Special Road.s Act, which received the Royal Assent on May 11 of this year. It is an enabling Measure. It gives authority for schemes covering the construction of special roads and prescribing the classes of traffic that may use the road. It does not say what roads are ti be built, nor when., A study of the Parliamentary discussion on the Act,.
and, in particular,. the second reading in the House of Commons, shows that facts, figures. and arguments supplied by the B.R.F. were of major importance in easing its passage. It was supported by practically all M.P.s.
The Minister's four-year-old promise no doubt
influenced the B.R.F. in its choice of South Wales as the area in which to co.ncentrate-pressore for the commencement of motorway Construction. 'Compared, with the rest of the country', South Wales is 'badly off fOr both roads and railways, and practically the-only road. • link with England is through Gloucester
Unfortunately, the Ministry's plan for South Wales .
would cot at least £35,000,000, and to ask for this amount of money at the present time-is to hitch one's .wagon to a very distant star indeed. Nothing can be done this year, or next year No doubt,•it will be said that the latest -cut in Toad
expenditure is linked with the Prime Minister's statement that " the' honae market is at present receiving a much larger flow of commercial vehicles than Wa$ planned, or than we can afford, and supplies must be diverted to export." There is a .tempting aPpearance of logic in the argument. What is the point of building more roads when there are to be fewer vehicles?
The reply is in part that the new and improved roads were badly needed years ago, when the total number '• of vehicles was much smaller than it is now. The arguments put forward by the B.R.F. have been relevant 'Since long before the war. The Federation has been disappointed so often in the past that it should be able to bear the latest blow stoically. If it continues long enough to cry "New .roads. for old," the Government will in the end have—to do something about giving practical effect to the-Special. Roads Act. •