Trunk system in 2,000 Lengths for Reassessment
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FROM OUR POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT
ANEW programme of development for arterial roads is under way at the Ministry of Transport. Studies have been started on the enormous traffic flows expected in the 1970s and an improvement plan is to be produced later this year.
Spending on these inter-urban roads will go up from £90 million in the current year to about £130 million in 1969-70. But the threat of congestion and overloading in the next decade is so great that the further improvements need to be prepared as soon as possible.
New assessments and priorities, based on current traffic flows, are being made. For this purpose the trunk road system has been divided into 2,000 lengths and the whole machinery of co-ordination is being brought into play, involving the study of regional development, rail prospects and motorway plans.
This positive part of transport coordination has been revealed in the latest annual report on roads, from the Ministry of Transport. It shows that roads in England and Wales carry almost 90 per cent of all passengers and over 80 per cent of all goods tonnage. But over eight-tenths of all traffic is carried by a quarter of the road mileage, and 95 per cent of traffic uses only half the roads.
The report stresses that although road traffic in both goods and passengers is expected to w on increasing rapidly, it should not be assumed that rail carryings will continue to decline.
There is hope that more attractive longdistance train services will halt the loss of passengers. As for goods traffic, the future depends not only on growth, price, efficiency and demand, but also on "any change in policy on which the Government may decide at the conclusion of their studies of transport co-ordination,"
The position in 1964 was that 89 per cent of all passenger movement in Great Britain was by road. Sixty-eight per cent went by cars and other personal transport (54 per
cent in 1959), 21 per cent by bus (29 per cent in 1959) and 11 per Cent by rail (17 per cent in 1959). A continued increase in the use of private .cars is likely, in the future, to reduce the demand for bus services even further.
Of the 81 per cent of goods tonnage carried by road, 33 per cent was carried for hire or reward, and 48 per cent on own account. This shows a boost in C licence activity over 1959, when the percentages were 34 and 46 respectively.
In terms of ton miles, however, both classes increased evenly, with the C men taking second place. In 1959, hire or reward carriers had 26 per cent of the traffic, and own account had 24. By 1964, this had increased to 30 and 28 per cent respectively.
Rail suffered a decline in both categories. Its tonnage fell by 2 per cent between 195964, and its ton-mileage by 8 per cent. All this took place against a background of higher tonnages, which shows the remarkable way in which road has secured the extra traffic available.
This surge in road activity, both by private cars and goods vehicles, threatens to outstrip whatever measures can be made to increase trunk road capacity. If it goes on, it is expected that some 2,250 miles of these roads will be seriously overloaded, which is about double the amount under pressure at present.
This is the problem now facing Mrs Castle, the new Minister. Clearly there will have to be an accelerated programme of improvement of roads between towns and cities. But it is on this information that she will also decide whether, and how, to start switching some of the booming road movements on to the rails.
Perkins Huge Exports: Direct exports of Perkins diesel engines in 1965 rose to 61.9 per cent of the company's total U.K. production, earning £24m. out of total sales of £38.8m. Including exports of Perkins engines in manufacturers' chassis, the company's exports totalled 85 per cult of output. In N. America, sales rose by 47 per cent over 1964, totalling £6.7m.