Strong Protests Against Bridge Restrictions
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cERIOLTS dislocation of commercial
vehicle traffic was .foreshadowed at a meeting, at Cardiff, on January 19, of Glamorgan County Council, highways authorities in Glamorgan and representativts of urban and rural district councils, railway companies, canal companies and road-transport interests, at which the proposed restriction of heavy traffic over bridges scheduled as weak by railway and canal companies, under the Road and Rail Traffic Act, 1933, was considered.
In view of the difficult position which road traffic would have to face by the closing of such bridges, it was decided to urge the Minister of Transport to postpone the operation of the clause for at least three years, or until a bridgestrengthening scheme could be inaugurated, The date of the introduction of such a scheme depended much on the amount of grant that would be forthcoming from the Ministry.
Strong protests against the proposed restrictions on bridges by the railway and canal companies were made both by road users and public authorities.
Mr. J. L. John, representing the South Wales Motor Omnibus Proprietors Association, urged that the conse quenceS of bridge closures as scheduled would be serious to bus proprietors and the travelling public. If alternative routes had to be used, journeys would be longer and the increased mileage must inevitably involve operators in charging higher fares.
Glamorgan county-surveyor thought that, provided a real scheme of reconstruction was laid down within two years, the railway companies should be asked to defer the erection of restrictive notices.
The total cost of the reconstruction of bridges throughout the country would be £60,000,000.