LONDON TRAFFIC.

Evening Post, Volume LXX, Issue 16, 19 July 1905, Page 5

LONDON TRAFFIC.

RELIEVING THE CONGESTION. REPORT OF THE ROYAL COMMISSION,. SPEEDY TRANSIT AND CHEAP RATES. [PBESS ASSOCIATION.] (Received July 19, 8.28 a.m.) LONDON, 18th July. The Royal Commission appointed to enquire into the means of locomotion and transport in London has submitted its report. The Commission, of which Sir David M. Barbour is chairman, considered two aspects of the problem— (a) As to the measures which it deems most effectual for the improvement of the traffio by the development and interconnection of railways and tramways on or below the surface, by increasing the facilities for other forms of mechanical locomotion, by better provision for the organisation and regulation of .vehicular and pedestrian traffic, or otherwise ; and (b) as to the desirableness of establishing some authority or tribunal to which all schemes of railway or tramway construction of a local character should be referred, and the powers whioh it would be advisable to confer upon such a body. The report states that rehousing on the present sites will be too costly, and it is imperative to relieve the overcrowding by taking the population in and oirt_ of the city in many directions at a rapid speed and at frequent intervals aad cheap rates. The Commission accordingly commends the great extension of tho tramways, with through communication between the different systems, also the extension of the railways within a central area, and advises the establishment _ of a Central Traffic Board with functions of a» advisory and a semijudicial character, and an Advisory Board of Engineers. The Commission also recommends, mainly as a scheme for ultimate realisation if financially possible, the construction of two main avenues through London — west and east and north and south — with four lines of tramways on the surface and four lines of railways below, both to be electrical. The probable cost of this project is estimated at £24,000,000. The report is not unanimous. The Commission considers that even if the municipality finds the money for the construction it would be better to lease the tramways to a private company if it desires a reasonable profit.