The Star. SATURDAY, DECEMBER 22, 1928. BRITAIN BUILDS MOTORWAYS.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 18644, 22 December 1928, Page 4

The Star. SATURDAY, DECEMBER 22, 1928. BRITAIN BUILDS MOTORWAYS.

AT A TIME when New Zealand is about to embark on a comprehensive roading scheme, it is interesting to note what other countries are doing in the same direction. In Great Britain, keen discussion has lately taken place on a project for the construction of the proposed Midland motorway linking Liverpool with Birmingham. This is part of a large scheme which begins with the building of a motorway between London and Brighton, and contemplates also the construction of motorways joining Liverpool to Hull (running north of Manchester and south of Bradford and Leeds), and Birmingham, Bristol and Cardiff. A typical motorway of the kind proposed would be reserved exclusively for motor traffic. The total width would be 58 feet, a 10-foot strip of grass running down the middle of the highway, leaving 24 feet on either side for a double line of traffic each way. The roadway would have a concrete surface, with gradients not exceeding one in forty, and a minimum curve radius of half a mile. This gives practically a level road with an uninterrupted view for some distance ahead. It would be fenced in like a railway and carried over or under existing roads or railways, thus eliminating cross traffic, and there would be junctions with important roads near the larger towns, so constructed that motor vehicles would have to join the motorway in the same direction as the traffic is flowing. Fruit trees and flowering shrubs along the sides are suggested as an aid to the beautification of the highway. The present position is that Parliamentary powers are to be sought in the coming session for the Liverpool-Birmingham project. The estimated cost is about £6,000,000, and construction would probably take four years and employ directly and indirectly about 30,000 men. It remains, however, to be seen what view the British House of Commons will take of these projects.