PROBLEMS OF OUR ROADS

Hauraki Plains Gazette, Volume XXXIII, Issue 4463, 6 September 1922, Page 4

PROBLEMS OF OUR ROADS

Two kindred questions that are looming large at the moment are the condition of; our roads and the manners of those who use them. The state of our British roads, formerly the best in the world, is at the moment deplorable. They fell into serious neglect during the war years, and the new heavy motor traffic has seriously aggravated this disrepair. Among experts there is a strong feeling that this class of traffic should contribute more to road upkeep than other and less destructive classes. Lord Montagu of Beaulieu, one of our foremost authorities on the subject, is in favour of the introduction of a mileage recorder in view of the fact that it would.be difficult to reintroduce the old toll-bar system! of taxation. Other experts are unanimous on the point that our roads are in urgent peed of reconstruction. Finance, however, is the stumbling block.

A modest estimate of the cost of; reconstruction, put forward by one eminent expert, shows .that for 22,100 miles of first-class roads and 14,419 miles of second-class roads, nearly £200.000,000 are required. And even roads so reconstructed would have . only a limited life, and would require periodical renewal.—Daily Mail,