ROAD PROBLEMS Sta,—Your contributor, Mr. John Arlott, has indeed summed
up 'the collection of hardened arteries which the British call a road system,' and his suggestions for improve- ment obey the sound principle of not letting one road-user cross the track of another at the same level.
As, however, even if it were economically possible, we could not produce a road system of the kind Mr. Arlott specifies within twenty years, why not take steps towards it of immediate value?
For example, at any point where now traffic lights or an island would be considered, should not in future a flyover be preferred ? Our roadmakers need only be taken to Paris, to see how the route from Le Bourget to the air station at Les Invalides has been improved by flyovers.
Next, along trunk routes which will ulti- mately be multi-lane, why not run half-mile sections of double track every ten miles ? There are two good examples of this on the Kidderminster-Worcester main road. Their effect in clearing traffic blocks is an object lesson. A progressive policy of reducing the gaps between such ' come-bys would even- tually produce the multi-lane roads.
In our congested island, there is surely something to be said for the skyway, a road viaduct on the American pattern. A trunk road with one lane carried above the other might be the only way of achieving two lanes in congested areas, and the same method might be used to by-pass a town by going overhead. After all, we have had railway viaducts through the centres of towns for a century.
Then, could we not agree on the uniform application of control methods ? The white line, of immense value when first introduced, has been left to the whim of every road- mender with a paint brush and an urge to express himself.
Finally, can we not break the official habit of using the cheapest ad hoc solution of any road problem ? An example is a' Halt' sign in Wendover on the London-Aylesbury road. This tells a flat lie, for there is no major road ahead, merely a B class lane to Princes Risborough. Presumably the man from the Ministry decided that automatic traffic lights would be too expensive I—Yours faithfully,
L P. LESSIMORE 16 Gervase Drive, Dudley, Worcs.
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