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Lack of roads costs Om a day!

29th January 1971
Page 18
Page 18, 29th January 1971 — Lack of roads costs Om a day!
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Which of the following most accurately describes the problem?

• A new film entitled "The Third Age of Transport" had its first public showing last week. Prepared on behalf of the recently formed British Industry Roads Campaign, the film focuses attention on the handicaps faced by British exporters in getting their goods to the docks by road when not a single British port is connected directly to the motorway system.

Sir George Middleton (chairman of BIRC), who introduced the film presentation, said the campaign to be waged by BIRC reflected the exasperation of industry at the mounting costs of road transport: 89 per cent of all goods were now moved by road in the UK, which meant that nine out of 10 export orders were moved to the ports by road. Half the country's trunk roads were overloaded and all cities were congested. The campaign aimed to ensure the building of 3000 miles• of inter-city roads by 1980. This should be a priority task of Government.

Instancing the cost to industry of traffic congestion, Sir George said it had been estimated this would amount to £11,000m in the 70s. This vast sum was more than five times the cost of building the additional roads we needed. The continued failure of British governments to build the necessary roads, despite many warnings of the consequences of failure, was alarming. "We sell ourselves short, exporting at a disadvantage. The greater mobility permitted our European competitors, who can drive 300 miles whilst we are lucky to do 185 miles, lends point to the Campaign." He hoped the logical arguments and hard facts which justified a great expansion of the road programme would get across to those with power to act. It was an economic and social problem, but no one could deny that the failure to build roads burdened individual consumers of goods.

Sir George stressed that roads must be built in a civilized way, respecting amenity factors. There was no way of getting roads on the cheap, but we must have them.

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