ROAD RECONSTRUCTION

Otago Daily Times, Issue 22958, 13 August 1936, Page 12

ROAD RECONSTRUCTION

SCHEME FOR BRITAIN GREAT INCREASE IN TRAFFIC (British Official Wireless) (United Press Association) (By Electric Telegraph—Copyright) RUGBY, August 11. The Kingston by-pass nine-mile stretch on the London-Portsmouth road, which was one of the first of the great by-passes to be constructed on roads out of London soon after the war, is to be reconstructed. The 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 that have occurred. The proposal is to reconstruct it with a dual carriageway separated by a central reserve. The lighting will also be improved. This work, which will be begun on the two-mile 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 carriageways are a growing feature >f these reconstructions The number has grown so rapidly that the Ministry of Transport is issuing special instructions regarding their use in order to secure uniform observance of one-way working in each of the two carriageways. The recent decision of the Government to place the trunk roads under the central authority of the Ministry of Transport will facilitate measures of 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