BRITAIN’S MOTOR-TRAFFIC

Greymouth Evening Star, 12 August 1936, Page 14

BRITAIN’S MOTOR-TRAFFIC

MAKING ROADS SAFER.

[BRITISH OFFICIAL WIRELESS]

RUGBY, August 11.

The Kingston by-pass, a nine-mile stretch of the London-Portsmouth Road, one of the first of the great by-passes to be reconstructed, a road which cost £4,000,000 and took four years to build, has, since it came into use in 1927. acquired a bad reputation for the number of accidents. A proposal is on foot to reconstruct it with a dual carriage-way, separated by a central reserve. The lighting will also be improved. The work, which will begin on a two-miles section west of Surbiton, will be put in hand immediately. The great increase in traffic has necessitated the rebuilding of a number of comparatively new roads, and dual carriage-ways are a growing feature of these reconstructions. The number has grown so rapidly that the Ministry of Transport is issuing special instructions regarding their use, in order to secure the uniform observance of the one-way working of each of the two carriage-ways. The recent decision of the Government, to place trunk roads under the central authority of the Ministry of Transport, will facilitate the measures for modernisation, such as the plan for the Kingston by-pass. The urgency of the matter is emphasised by the number of new motor vehicles registered each month. The figures for June, at 38,536, were more than 6000 in excess of June last year.