REVOLUTION IN ROADS

Taranaki Daily News, 6 October 1928, Page 16

REVOLUTION IN ROADS

IMPORTANT BRITISH SCHEME. Road transport between busy centres in England will be revolutionised when important schemes which are now in preparation are carried out. Powers similar to those secured by railways a century ago are to be sought from Parliament for the construction of two private through motorways, one joining London and Brighton, the other connecting Birmingham and Birkenhead. Motorists will be able to travel from end to end without a stop, passing over or under all intervening roads, unhampered by horse-drawn vehicles, straying animals, or traffic blocks as they speed up to 60 miles an hour between high wire fences. The London-Brighton scheme is the first promoted by Motor Road Developments Syndicate, Limited, of which Lord Askwith is chairman. The scheme is for a 40-foot concrete road, 35 J miles long from a point near Tolworth, on the Kingston by-pass road to Albourne, a few miles from Brighton. The cost is estimated at £2,150,000, exclusive of the cost of acquiring land. There will be 157 bridges. Tolls will be charged at a rate which

will mean about 2s 6d for a private motor ear to make the journey. The whole road is expected to be open in a little over two years’ time, and sections of it much earlier. The new motor way will cross three railway lines and four rivers by bridges, and will either cross or be crossed by 50 minor roads by means of bridges which will cut out all cross roads. A hundred lighter structures, known as “accommodation bridges,” will enable farmers and others to have access to land which the new road cuts through. Six road junctions will be made on the route to enable traffic from other roads to join in. Viaducts will enable the through traffic to pass straight on at these points, while the side streams of traffic, after parsing through toll gates, will flow into the main stream. It will be a route across virgin country. No existing road will be taken in, and every town and village will be skirted. Epsom racecourse w'ill be passed close at hand, and the intention is to provide extensive parking facilities here for use on Derby day. The present intention is to charge motor cars id a mile, motor bicycles id a mile, and commercial vehicles id per ton mile. Haulage contractors are expected to make great use of the road, as the double journey from London to Brighton and back will bo possible in one day. A maximum speed limit of 60 miles an hour is proposed, to prevent the road being used as a racing track. One of the promoters said recently: “The question of a toll should not arouse Parliamentary opposition, since the existing alternative roads will remain. We shall have the support of local uathorities because the new road would greatly reduce the maintenance costs of the other roads. “There will be a clause in the bill enabling the Government to .take over the road for ordinary public use after a number of years if they so desire. The most serious opposition is likely to arise from the landowners in the line of route, as we shall ask for compulsory powers to acquire the necessary laud.”