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Plans to Prevent London Traffic Paralysis

2nd March 1951, Page 50
2nd March 1951
Page 50
Page 50, 2nd March 1951 — Plans to Prevent London Traffic Paralysis
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Which of the following most accurately describes the problem?

London and Home Counties Traffic Advisory Committee Calls for immediate Measures to Relieve Congestion and Rejects the Reduction of Vehicles

AFIVE-YEAR plan to relieve traffic congestion in inner London is proposed by the London and Home Counties Traffic Advisory Committee in a report to the Minister of Transport. Any idea of reducing the volume of traffic is rejected. The committee declares that the following measures should be carried out or started within this period—

(1) The provision of more parking places off the street, including some above ground and others below ground.

(2) Grants from central funds towards the cost of buying land and providing car parks.

(3) An experiment with street parking meters, the revenue from which would help to pay for car parks off the highway.

(4) Introduction of a system of unilateral waiting in streets within a radius of one mile from Piccadilly Circus.

(5) Speeding up of road repairs. on the most important traffic routes by the general introduction of doubleshift and week-end working.

(6) Major road improvements

Facing Key Routes The committee's plan for major street improvements is designed to free two cast-west and two north-soutfi routes. These are Strand and Euston Road; and Park Lane and Tottenham Court Road.

The report which has been published by H.M. Stationery Office at 2s.. analyses the causes of congestion and makes 56 recommendations.

The committee fears that London's transport might be brought to a standstill within two or three years unless adequate steps were taken to relieve the position. In some thoroughfares at certain times of the day, and for comparatively short periods, traffic has already reached saturation point. Soon it will be reached in many others, says the report. As an example of the cost to the community of traffic delays, it is estimated that delays at St. Giles Circus alone cost about £200,000 per annum. The annual overall delay at five other road intersections is calculated to be 235,000 vehicle-hours.

As a first step, the committee "strongly recommends" that five schemes each costing more than £1,000,000 and five costing less than that amount should be put in hand at the earliest possible moment. These comprise the Hyde Park Boulevard c12 scheme (£1.25m.); a roundabout at St. Giles Circus (£2.43m.); the widening of parts of the Strand (Elm.). Euston Road (£2.62m.), Tottenham Court Road, (£2m.), Piccadilly (£31,000), Grosvenor Place (£9,600), Horseferry Road (£11,000) and High Holborn (£10,000), and improvements in the vicinity of Victoria Station (£200,000).

The possibilities of arcading 'should he carefully considered,,especially where the choice lies between the postponement of an essential road improvement for many years and its reasonably prompt execution if arcading were adopted, says the committee. This procedure involves setting back the ground floor behind the building line and supporting the upper floors on columns, or by cantilever, to provide greater effective road width without excessive loss of building space.

Urging that the best use be made of existing space, the report points out that the theoretical capacity of an unobstructed traffic lane, 10 ft. wide, is 1,800-2,000 vehicles per hour; actual capacity, because of obstruction, is rarely more than 600 vehicles per hour and frequently much less.

A substantial reduction of indiscriminate parking in the streets is essential, states the committee. Some new car parks would have to be built above ground and others underground. The best solution in some districts might be to build them under squares, and the

proposal to erect one beneath Cavendish Square should be pursued with vigour.

"The mere provision of the parks is na enough; all must use them, and the streets must be cleared of improperly parked vehicles if the traffic is to continue to move," it is stated.

For a capital expenditure of £5,000,000, the committee estimates that accommodation could be provided for 5,000 vehicles in parks having a capacity of up to, say, 500 each. This would give much greater benefits than the expenditure of the same sum on road improvements.

A permanent site for the North London coach station is a pressing need which requires that immediate action should be taken by the Minister of Transport.

It is recommended that at certain times all waiting should be prohibited for a distance of at least 45 ft. from the more important controlled intersections. Restrictions on horse-drawn vehicles should be extended.

B.R.F. Comment

The British Road Federation describes the report as "refreshingly objective by comparison with the Government's policy, recently summarized by Mr. Hugh Dalton, when Minister of Town and Country Planning, in the words: 'There are too many vehicles on the roads.'

"The report wisely rejects the idea of reducing traffic in order to make it fit the roads, even though it fails to lay sufficient stress on the need for new and improved roads," the B.R.F. adds. "Nevertheless, the report is a step in the right direction.

"Action now becomes the operative word. The report must not be allowed to follow its numerous predecessors into dusty oblivion. It will certainly be consigned to that destination unless Londoners themselves demand its implementation."


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