NEW ROADS ROUND LONDON.

Dunstan Times, Issue 3137, 2 October 1922, Page 2

NEW ROADS ROUND LONDON.

(Ixvndon Daily Telegraph.) With considerable portions cf the new roads coming into use, or nearing completion, Greater London is already reaping the benefits of the great scheme of highway construction entered upon since the war. It is doubtful whether this country has seen, since the Romans, so comprehensive and thorough a piece of work of its kind, and certainly nothing approaching it has been undertaken on the Continent in recent years. The need for it had been apparent for a long time before the war. but any chance of progress had. ot course," vanished with the advent ot hostilities, although every month's experience of war-time traffic and of the few weeks following the armistice' rendered consideration of the problem the more urgent. The mere widening of existing roads, it soon became obvious, would meet the case no longer, and posterity will accordingly reap the benefit of a bold piece of planning which will give spacious highways through stretches of virgin country, connecting up not only with the existing main arteries of traffic in and out of London, but with great new thoroughfaires to the north and' south of the river, permitting ingress and egress to the suburbs independent of the overworked roads which have been in use over so great a number of years. Some of the earliest parts of new roads to come into use have been sections of the Eastern-avenue, as it is called, which, stretching from Hackney, through AVanstead, Ilford, and Romford, will connect with the great new road to Southend, which is one of the most striking features of the new schemes. When finished it will offer a full hundred feet of width for a continuous distance of thirty miles, as has been said, ""the densely-populated north-eastern section of London with its nearest seaside playground." A spur is being run out rrpm Ilford in the direction of Woodford, to be linked up eventually with the North Circularroad, which traverses the northern segment of Outer London. Hie new Southend-road crosses the old main road at Harold-wood, above Romford, missing, therefore, the great traffic congestion at the old centre. That is typical of it throughout its entira length; indeed ,it is one of the main ends of modern road designers and engineers to avoid the old country towns which are so great a. feature of the road travel in England. By-passes are being constructed at all parts of the Outer London area with a view of piloting the main lines of traffic around the thickly-congested areas. One of " the results of the operation of this principle is that those country towns which have succeeded in retaining their charming old characteristics * thus far into the modern era will be saved from further encroachments, such as so often have been necessitated by the gradual widening, at the dictation of crosscountry traffic, of their ancient thoroughfare. One of these loops will be found at East Ham and Barking, serving the old London-Tilbury road at Dagenham. This road is itself being reconstructed, so as to avoid both its detours and the level crossings at Rainham, Wonnington, and Purfleet. So much for developments due eastl of London. Northwards there is the new Cambridge road, leaving the metropolis through Tottenham, Edmonton, and Enfield, which is now nearing completion. The Herts County Council have accepted tenders for its continuance through the county to join the old Cambridge road at a point in the country where the worst of the congestion has been left behind. Further by-posses at Eltham and at Shooter's Hill are to open the way out of the metropolis to Kent. They are three and four miles long respectively, and both are ready for surfacing. In this quarter a new road is being made to connect Dartford and Erith, while the old Roman road from Dover to London is being widened over a considerable portion of its western length. A fascinating part of this scheme is the projected restoration of a section ol this road,' which has been missing for upwards of 1800 years. Over the steep and difficult Swanscombe Hill the Romans traced a course for the road which, for general use, must have entailed the shaping of suitable gradients required' which are in process of construction, and this ancient road over precipitous ground will shortly be opened once again. Improvements are being made in the Loudon-Maidstone road at various points, so as to increase its width to a uniform 80ft throughout. The East and North and West of London will alike be served by the North Circular road, which is now in hand to a length of nine miles. Its equivalent on the south side of Loudon joining up the South-East with the South-West through the middle suburbs, is not so far advanced, work onlv being in progress over a short stretch at Woolwich. The North Circular road, by the way, is of concrete, and may be opened for traffc with no additional surface covering. The West of London will be further served bv two big schemes, one of which will •iduce the Western-avenue, which is to duplicate the present LoudonUxbridge road. The other scheme consists of a by-pass at Brentford. Designed originallv to afford relief to the Bath-road, it is now to he extended southward so as to link up with the Basing-stoke road. Within the last week a resolution has been passed by the Surrey County Council, according to a proposal made by the Ministry of Transport, authorising steps to be taken to acquire the whole of the land needed for the the Kingston by-pass and the Sutton by-pass schemes. In the case of the former the traffic of the mam Portsmouth road will be enabled to avoid the congestion which was inevitable in passing through Kingston. Similarly the Sutton bv-pass will conduct the main-road traffic clear of the centre and incidentally supply an additional and welcome line of approach tor great rush of road traffic Epsomwards on Derbv Day. . Ti, addition to the foregoing projects, the Countv Councils of Middlesex and Surrev are contemplating the construction of a new bridge across the Thames as a art of the plans for an arterial road to be known as the New Chertset road. By recent action on the part of the great local authorities of the l/one counties, it may be said that the •hole of the Greater London, arterial road programme has mater.ahsed, a very considerable advance in so short a period following the war. For'some ears to come, however there will be JStv of work to be done n. the direction of linking up and extending the section* which are now being put m "one of the main features of the ari.whl road programme has been, ot o rse, Seoiitfct which they have providedfor the employment of large numbers of men who would otherwise, have had to be supported without giving a return in the shape of useful labor. Some lO.O(K) have own employed altogether on these road-making schemes 9()00 of tiiem being at present engaged mi the new Southend road. The extent to which these schemes will avail ... future for the relief of ™employnieut will of course depend to a great extent upon the policy to be adopted ■li ... ~,1 to the whole problem by with regard to , tm , rtl ,. t t i}„ EKa t th o Government. Fhat tlicsc grta

schemes are in progress should mean, however, that for some time to come there will remain at hand this medium of absorption ready to be utilised when the urgency is greatest.