Call For Traffic Plans
Page 70
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HOW the increasing use of the motor vehicle could be provided for in the future was the underlying theme of a conference held by the Town and Country Planning Association in London this week. Differing views were expressed as to the relative future role of private and public transport.
"It is becoming apparent that in the most heavily inhabited and trafficked localities, nothing less than the regional planning of highways will suffice," claimed. Mr. John Hay, parliamentary secretary, Ministry of Transport, when• addressing the conference on The Planning of the National Road System."
Regarding responsibility for the road system, Mr. Hay said that trunk roads, as the main national arteries, were paid for wholly out of central funds. Class I roads, which connected large centres of population, had a Government grant of 75 per cent. whilst Class 11 roads had a 60 per cent: grant and Class III roads (which carried more local traffic) had a contribution of 50 per cent. Unclassified roads were entirely the responsibility of the local authority.
Highways Open to Everyone
As it had always been considered essential that the highway should be open to all members of the public, the Special Roads Act, 1949, was introduced to permit the Minister of Transport to build roads designed for certain classes of traffic only, as envisaged in the construction of the motorways.
The national road system of England and Wales consisted at present, Mr. Hay said, of 6,500 miles of trunk roads (including motorways), and another 15.000 miles were Class I roads. The remaining mileage consisted of 13,500 Class II roads and 42,500 Class III roads, with 87,000 miles unclassified.
Relative to its geographical .are& and size of population, Britain had the most extensive network of roads of any country in the world. Although trunk roads accounted for. only some 4. per cent, of the total road mileage, they carried one-third of the total traffic, he said. As to the condition of the roads, in 1956 there were 35,600 miles with a carriageway width of eight to 13 ft., 73,100 miles 14 to 19 fL, 43,100 miles 20 to 26 ft., 8,800 miles with a width of 27 to 39 ft., and a further 1,000 miles with a width of 40 ft. or more.
Highway planning has two frames of reference, Mr. Hay said—national and regional. Long through routes were directed primarily at end-to-end .traffic (though a substantial proportion of local and regional traffic was also carried on them) and represented the spine of the total system.
Regional routes were complementary to these and were based principally on the great centres of population. Though a36 essentially linked to the through system, these routes formed patterns of their own. It was one of their objectives, Mr. Hay said, to plan new roads to meet both national and regional needs. An example was the motorway links planned for west and east of the Birmingham area. The motorway coming south from Stafford would split at Great Barr, the western arm running down to join the Birmingham-Bristol motorway and the eastern arm linking with the BirminghamLondon motorway. These two links,. which would bound the Birmingham conurbation, would not only form part of the national motorway system but also an integral part of the route pattern of that 'conurbation.
Basic information about traffic loads was undertaken on a continuing basis by the Ministry of Transport and the Roarrl Research Laboratory jointly. Surveys show that in 1950, vehicle miles of traffic amounted to 424m. which, by 1959, had risen to 808m. Between 1950 and 1958 there was an increase of 7 per cent, a year, whilst the corresponding increase between 1958 and 1959 was 12 per cent.
The immediate problem of road planning had been to select for first improvement or new construction those roads which continuously carry the heaviest traffic. This did not imply concentration on coast roads, which carried heavy week-end traffic, but all-the-yearround routes which were especially important to industry and trade. Where priorities had to be allotted, the Government deliberately gave preference to those routes• which would benefit the econ om Y.
Never Forget Commercial Vehicles
"It is a very common error, when traffic matters are being discussed, for it to be assumed that the traffic consists solely of private cars. The vitally important commercial traffic which is the lifeblood of towns is -overlooked." This was claimed by Mr. C. D. Buchanan, recently appointed Urban Road Planning Adviser_ to the Ministry of Transport. One of the main points to be revealed by a study of traffic, he added, was its "essentialness" —which was essential to urban life, and which could be dispensed with, if the need arose, as being in the nature of a luxury.
Whilst admitting the importance of transport to urban life, Mr. Buchanan considered that the problem now was to contrive that these movements and circu
lations could be made in orderly manner without sacrificing everything else to them.
Mr. Buchanan. considered that there was no reason to question estimates that we should have about 15m. vehicles on the roads within 10 years. It was abundantly clear that, having disposed a great deal of development on the basis of motor transport, whatever the future held there could be no going back.
Present difficulties, in order of import-. anc,e, he observed, were traffic jams and slow progress, lack of cheap, convenient parking space, and overcrowding and delays in public transport at rush hours. Regarding road improvements, the sad lesson of the past 40 years was that the country had never succeeded in catching up with the motor vehicle. He considered that the solution did not lie solely in road improvements, which in some examples might even make matters worse.
Joint Study In Berlin
As an exercise in planning, Mr. Buchanan referred to a joint study he has made in connection with the Berlin
central area planning competition. In this exercise the area was divided into a number of rectangular "super blocks" set out in a grid of motorways which linked the main cross-country motorways. Within the super blocks the whole ground area was devoted to traffic uses—bus stops, goods deliveries, car parking and access to further sub-ground car parks. Each super block was to he decked completely over at first floor level with light connecting bridges to adjoining blocks. He added that at Cumbernauld New Town in Scotland it was proposedto build a multi-level town centre, and the London County Council had recently completed a study of their new town at Hook. This had a decked town centre and the whole ground area given over to traffic.
Looking ahead, Mr. Buchanan said that some factor must eventually put a limit to the total number of vehicles in
circulation. It was worth cogitating whether this would be the capacity of the motor industry, the purchasing power of the public, the number of licensable drivers, or the capacity of built-up areas to handle traffic.
It was essential, he said, that the best possible use be made of exiting public transport. The consistent lesson from other countries was that, where public transport had been neglected M favour of the car, they had come to regret it, although it was admittedly difficult knowing just how and where to draw a balance in the face of the enormous attraction of the motorcar.