An Important Problem in Road Planning
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THE recent announcement by the Minister of Transport of a five-year plan of road construction raises an important point, which demands close attention from those responsible for the .4tccess of the scheme. A careful study of traffic requirements, not only at the present time but also for the future, is essential to intelligent planning of road construction and maintenance, and an intensive study of traffic on all the main highways in the country should be undertaken.
In America the U.S. Bureau of Public Roads has studied this problem in all parts of the 1317, country. As a result, it is claimed that the work has been developed to such a point that it is now possible to analyse, in almost any detail, the actual use being made of the roads, and to predict the growth of traffic over five-year and 10-year periods.
The growth of ribbon development, coupled with the slow recognition of its evils by the powers that be, is an example of the dangers of lack of foresight, and any scheme of road construction carried out without due allowance for the likely demands of the future will be equally futile. It is not, perhaps, generally realized that the capacity of the roads to deal with the increasing volume and speed of traffic has an important bearing upon vehicle-operating costs. Increased fuel consumption, reduced performance, greater tyres and brake wear, and other undesirable features are a result of inadequate roads.
The main object of any road scheme should be to provide road transport at the minimum total cost, and it is safe to say that, wherever traffic demand exists and the highway is improved to provide for it adequately, the saving to traffic alone economically justifies such improvement.