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Britain Could Build Motorways

22nd October 1954
Page 65
Page 65, 22nd October 1954 — Britain Could Build Motorways
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Which of the following most accurately describes the problem?

TWOinteresting and complementary booklets, entitled "Roads—How Other Countries Finance Them" and "Roads—How Other Countries are Building Them," were launched last week by Lord_Derwent, the new chairman of the British Road Federation. Supporting him were M. le Cosquino De Bussy, of Holland, and Mr. R. Gresham Cooke, C.B.E., chairman of the British Road Federation Highways Committee.

The new productions-are part of the series started with "Loans for the Road" and" Resources for the Roads." Dement said that the, four. tinOristra.tcdbeyond doubt that 'there was' no reason why Britain should' not

have the roads needed by today's traffic. Most of the countries referred to in one of the new booklets could have invented post-war excuses for neglecting their roads, but they did not.

Holland, for example, had little land to spare and more recently had had to cope with a flood disaster, yet 200 miles of motorways had been built out of the planned network of 400. Even since the war 190 miles, including motorways, had been built, whereas Britain had not constructed one mile in that period, although it was eight years since a previous Government had agreed to a 10-year plan to modernize the road sys. tern and :build 800 miles of motorways. Adequate new roads could be financed

for less than Om. a year if loans were floated over the next 10 years at £50m. a year and interest and repayment spread out over 30 years. This interest represented only three days of motor taxation.

Mt le Cosquino DeBossy referred to trials carried out with a variety of vehicles on old-type roads and the new motorways in Holland. Whilst there was no saving in fuel, the same distance on a motorway was covered in two thirds of the time. Fewer vehicles would therefore do the same work. It had also been discovered that on the modem roads, accidents were reduced to = one-siXth for the corresponding amount of traffic:"


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