TRAFFIC DENSITY.

Auckland Star, Volume LXX, Issue 192, 16 August 1939, Page 17

TRAFFIC DENSITY.

MAIN HIGHWAYS CENSUS.

FORTY-TWO PER CENT INCREASE. (By Telegraph.—Parliamentary Reporter.) WELLINGTON, this day. An average density over the whole main highway .system of 207.1 vehicles an hour compared with 145.5 vehicles three years earlier—an increase of 42.3 per cent—is shown by the results of the second national traffic census, published in the annual report of the Transport Department which was presented in the. House yesterday.

The census was taken in each instance over one week in summer and one in winter. On the first occasion there were 370 tally stations and on the second the same points were used as far as possible, but the number was increased to 444. The census embraced only 22 per cent of the road mileage, carrying about 60 per cent of the total traffic.

The average traffic density in the North Island rose from 166.6 vehicles a day to 244.8 (40.9 per cent increase), and in the South Island from 119.2 to 160.4 (34.6 per cent). The Wellington West highway district, which includes the Hutt Road, showed the highest average figure. 435.4, and the South Auckland district was second, with 378.4. The sparsest traffic was in the Kin<r Country, with lll.fi. and in Westland, with 116.5. Canterbury North had the greatest increase over the three years and Gisbome-Wairoa the lowest.

It is also significant that between the two censuses Sunday traffic increased by 75 per cent, compared with 45 per cent for Saturdays and 38 per cent for week days.