DREAM ROADS FOR MOTORISTS

Shannon News, 5 October 1928, Page 4

DREAM ROADS FOR MOTORISTS

200 MILES WITH NO SPEED LIMITS OR,INTERSECTIONS

Under Mussolini’s direction. Italian uiglnvay engineers have achieved probably the most remarkable highway in the world, in answ-er to the problem, of lessening motor accidents and speeding up highway traffic. In this respect, Italy has jumped alien'd of other nations in that, w-hile others have been busy curbing speed by multifarious law-making, Italy has demonstrated that, a roadway can be constructed to accommodate greater speed with absolute safety. These autostrada are to be found radiating from Milan to various cities in Italy’s lake re-sort region. The present system w-as completed in 1926, more or less as an experiment. There is no doubt of its success now-. They are approximately 40ft wide, and a high iron fence on either side, to prevent trespassing, makes the roads safe for fast travel. Driving over Iheso motoring delights in an Erskine Six Sedan recently, a , European tourist was struck by the manner in-which a clear run has been preserved. The drive, he said, was like a trip in an airplane on a perfect (lying day. "There arc no crossroads. Every intersecting lnghw-ay goes either, under or over the autostrada. Drivers are warned of the points where branch roads connect with the.main artery, by a series of signs a mile or so before they roach the branch. It is shut off from the main thoroughfare by a heavy gate, manned by an attendant. Italian road builders, realising that such ppeedw-ays could not pass through towns and villages, solved the problem by avoiding them.. Approximately 200 miles of the autostrada system exist to-day. Another is to be built from Milan to Venice — a 200 miles’ straight run at whatever speed the motorist fancies. It is also proposed to builcMfche autostrada north through Switzerland and Germany to Hamburg, a distance of more than 700 miles. A toll system is rapidly paying the cost of building these dream roads of motorists.

So far as New- Zealand is concerned, they appear to be merely a dream.