HC Deb 30 July 1959 vol 610 cc160-2W
Mr. Ernest Davies

asked the Minister of Transport and Civil Aviation if he will publish in the OFFICIAL REPORT the national plan for roads to which his Department is working, and the general strategy to which all large projects have to conform.

Mr. Watkinson

The national plan is to give the country a basic road system on which traffic will flow smoothly and safely. There is a backlog of work to be done, and schemes must be taken in turn. Priorities are settled according to traffic needs particularly those of industry and commerce.

The principal features of the plan are:

  1. (1) The creation of a network of national trunk roads.
  2. (2) The relief of major urban bottlenecks.
  3. (3) The carrying out of as many lesser schemes all over the country, as remaining funds will allow.

Work on the trunk road network is concentrated on five major projects:

  1. (a) Modernisation of the Great North Road.
  2. (b) Construction of a motorway from London to Birmingham and from Birmingham to Penrith.
  3. (c) Improvement of access from London to the Channel Ports including the Medway Motor Road.
  4. (d) Improvement of roads between the Midlands and South Wales (including the Bristol/Birmingham Motorway and the Ross Spur Motorway which links up with the Heads of the Valleys Road improvement and other schemes).
  5. (e) Construction of the South Wales Radial Road from London to South Wales via the Severn Bridge.

As work on these schemes proceeds further work will be undertaken to extend the network (e.g. by the extension of the London/Birmingham Motorway northwards into Yorkshire) and to meet traffic needs of less industrial importance.

The relief of urban congestion has to be tackled where it occurs; about £80 million worth of large schemes in urban areas are at various stages in the programme. No major city is without examples. Very big schemes include the New Park Lane Scheme, the duplication of the Blackwall Tunnel, and the Chiswick Hammersmith and Hanger Lane flyovers, all in London; the Stretford/Eccles Bypass and the Runcorn/ Widnes Bridge in Lancashire; and the Birmingham Inner Ring Road and the Tyne Tunnel.

Connections between the improved trunk road network and the cities they serve are not being ignored. For example, efforts are being concentrated on the access roads leading to the London end of the London/Birmingham Motorway.

Besides the large-scale schemes mentioned above, many other local improvements are being made to trunk and classified roads all over the country where relatively small expenditures will yield high immediate returns in safety and traffic flow.