Engineer ‘Shocked’ By New Motorways

Press, Volume CVI, Issue 31221, 19 November 1966, Page 1

Engineer ‘Shocked’ By New Motorways

A senior engineer in the roading division of the Ministry of Works (Mr A. H. Buckland) has returned from a 12-weeks’ tour of North America, England and Germany “shocked” by the impact of the design of motorways in cities.

Mr Buckland told a meeting of the Roading Federation in Wellington this week: “Everyone associated with roading is getting a little tired of simply rushing to meet the demands of this animal called the automobile.”

During his tour he found a growing determination to corn-

trol the motor-vehicle’s impact on society. “Especially in urban areas, functional, aerial spaghetti alone is not an adequate answer. There is need for environmental engineering for highways,” said Mr Buckland. This was one of Mr Buckland’s conclusions about trends in thinking on highway engineering. He also found impatience with “the pavement design jungle,” a search for more adequate designing, and a trend toward marrying research with the normal processes of design.

Mr Buckland said that the real worth of standards of finish and of the aesthetic aspects of earthworks, bridges and other features of highways was being widely accepted. “I fear that we are mighty close to being the Philistines of the roading world in this matter,” he said.

: Mr Buckland was the first fperson to receive the federation’s award to encourage the regular research for information on developments in roadling abroad.