The Paris Road Congress.
Page 4
If you've noticed an error in this article please click here to report it so we can fix it.
Continued from page 122a.) The International Road Congress that was opened in Paris on Sunday, the tith instant, by M. Barthou— Minister of Public Works—begins a new era in the history of road making. For a time, as the President pointed out in his opening speech, after the passing of the old road coaches, and owing to the advent of the railroad, the roads of alt countries fell into a state of disuse that was the cause of their being allowed, in many cases, to degenerate into mere tracks. It was only in the last twenty years of the last century that the importance of the science of road making began to attract the attention of the local authorities, and then, suddenly, as M. Barthou said, there came down on the unprepared roads swarms of motorcars, • of motorvans and of heavy lorries, of all sorts, and speeds, and sizes, causing an amount of wear and tear to the roadway, and throwing an increase of work on the road surveyors and their staffs, for which they were not only totally unprepared, but which they found themselves totally unable to cope with, partly from want of necessary funds, and partly because modern road making is still in the experimental stage. Yet, it speaks volumes for the interest that has been aroused by this Congress, to note that representatives were sent by every civilised country of the world, and that such is considered to be its importance, that over 2,250 delegates from 29 various countries assembled to take part in its proceedings, whilst there is not the slightest doubt, from the opinion of the leading delegates as shown by their speeches on the opening and other days of the Congress, that it is to the motorcar and to the motorcar alone that we are indebted for this sudden outburst of intelligent interest in the public thoroughfares on the part of the local authorities. Matters would have gone on for years as formerly, cart-loads of flints and gravel would have continued to be dumped promiscuously about our highways, patchwork would still be universally the order of the day, had it not been for the inability of the long-suffering roads to stand any longer the enormously-increased strain brought upon them by the growing amount of motor traffic. That We Congress had a difficult task before it is undeniable; there were two distinct and different opinions at variance with one another on the one side were the road makers ; on the other were the road users. The former hold that it is the duty of the vehicle to suit the road in its construction, propulsion, speed, weight, etc. the latter claim that it is the duty of the road maker to turn out roads suitable to modern vehicles, with their relatively-high speed and their greater weight-carrying capacity, and capable of standing this enormous strain for long periods. It is on this debatable point that the Congress ought shortly to throw light, and it is to be hoped that, when local authorities do eventually open their eyes to the fact that the roads under their charge are intended to assist and increase the trade of their locality, and not to act as playgrounds for children and as cottagers' fowl runs, the suggestions of this important rne.{Aing—the first road congress of our day—will bear fruit.
The highly-trained foreign road engineer is a more enlightened man than our old-fashioned road surveyor, and there is therefore little of the opposition to motors that one would have expected. " L'automobile a fait ses frroenores," said one official, and it must be henceforth accepted as an ordinary user of the highway, having shown its value as much from the commercial as from the private owner's point of view.