Ogden Standard-Examiner | 1922-07-16 | Page 10 | British Plan Wider Roads

BRITISH PLAN WIDERROADS Government Finds That Present Narrow Highways Are Dangerous A dispatch from Loudon states 'that country roads and city streets'to ! be laid out hereafter In Great Britain Bri-tain will have a right-of-way 120 feet i wide In most Instances and 100 feH wide as a minimum. If present plans of tho government are carried out, ! as appears certain The same dls- ' patch states that because motor traffic traf-fic has made It obvious that the old narrow country roads are not in these days safe, and because unem-ploj unem-ploj ment In many linen makes this time seem a very favorable one for the construction and Improvement of highways, public enthusiasm has greeted the official plan for the wid- enln"- of existing roads nnd the establishment es-tablishment of tho li'O-foot width as the official standard for the future. Kngland's roads approached 100 per cent perfect long before any great accomplishment in highway construction had been recorded In this country. Lone: before the war, the highways of England had become rivals of the railways through tho use of motor trucks and steam traction trac-tion engines, often hauling several trailers, each with a capacity of tons Tho roads bore this traffic well and their maintenance, which calls for almost al-most darty Inspection and continuous repairs, has enabled these highways to stand up under a much heavier traffic than 90 per cent of American roads receive. The plans of the government will involve a total of several thousand miles of additional new construction, 1 destined to make London tho center! of tho most adequately roaded section sec-tion of tho world. The I ultcd Stale just mb:urklng with governmental assistance upon the construction of an interstate, nation-wide, primary highway system, will do well to consider the conclu- . slons which an indlnltely greater ex- perlenco has forced upon British highway authorities While fei of our roads, like those In the vicinity i of London, need a right-of-way 120; feel In width at the present time.' that traffic requirements will ulti-j mately demand buch a width, seems: almost certain.