73. Colonel NEWMANasked the Parliamentary Secretary to the Ministry of Transport whether he has any figures as to the cost involved to the ratepayers and taxpayers in the construction of the present new arterial roads; whether he is aware that an official of the Ministry has estimated the cost at £100,000 per mile as against a total capital expenditure of £56,000 per mile in the construction of a railroad; and whether, even allowing for the fact of inefficient and costly unemployed labour, he is satisfied that public money is not being wasted on the construction of these roads?
§ The PARLIAMENTARY SECRETARY to the MINISTRY of TRANSPORT (Mr. Neal)As the answer is a lengthy one and contains numerous figures, I will, with my hon. and gallant Friend's permission, circulate it in the OFFICIAL REPORT.
The answer is as follows:
The arterial road schemes which have recently been put in hand in the metropolitan area are shown in Schedule I below, together with an estimate of the cost of each work. These metropolitan schemes involve a total estimated expenditure of £6,000,485, which will eventually be met approximately as follows: 1691
It is impossible to give any estimate of the aggregate cost of road schemes, of a character which might be termed arterial, which have been initiated by highway authorities in the provinces. Grants amounting to £3,699,898 have been indicated during the past eighteen months towards important provincial road schemes expedited for the relief of unemployment. The expenditure on the part of local authorities is represented by an approximately equal amount. Many of the schemes, however, are widenings or improvements, or have reference to roads which are not of an
£ By the Road Fund 2,946,834 By Special Exchequer Contributions 1,085,930 By Contributions from Local Authorities 1,967,721
| SCHEDULE I. | |||
| ARTERIAL ROAD WORKS IN THE METROPOLITAN AREA. | |||
| (a)Schemes for the execution of which the Ministry of Transport is directly responsible. | |||
| Road. | Length in miles. | Estimated Cost. | |
| New Construction. | Widening. | ||
| £ | |||
| Eastern Avenue | 9.0 | — | 357,500 |
| East Ham and Barking By.pass Road | 3.0 | — | 260,000 |
| Woodford—Ilford Road | 1.75 | — | 100,000 |
| London—Southend Road | 21.0 | — | 735,000 |
| London—Tilbury Road, including Rainham and Purfleet By.pass Roads. | 3.5 | 5 | 427,000 |
| London—Dover Road— | |||
| (a) Dartford—Gravesend Section | — | 3.75 | 125,000 |
| (b) Gravesend—Strood Section | .68 | 4.5 | 125,000 |
| Watling Street between Dartford and Strood | 11.2 | — | 525,000 |
| London—Folkestone Road— | |||
| (a) Sidcup—Farningham Section—including By.pass Road at Farningham. | 1.06 | 5.0 | 107,500 |
| (b) Farningham—Wrotham Section— including By.pass Road at Wrotham. | 1.78 | 5.34 | 99,000 |
| Dartford—Erith Road | 1.45 | .23 | 70,000 |
| Dartford By.pass (Millpond Road) | Total length 1.15 miles. | 34,500 | |
| Scheme still under consideration. | |||
| Kingsdown—Longfield | Total length 4.7 miles. | 79,000 | |
| Scheme still under consideration. |
§ arterial character. Some of the more important provincial schemes are shown in Schedule II below.
§ It will be seen from the Schedules referred to that there are necessarily wide variations in the cost per mile of new construction, owing to differences in the dimensions adopted, in the engineering difficulties to be overcome, in the scope of the specification, and in the compensation payable for the acquisition of property. The general average, however, falls very far below the figure of £100,000 per mile quoted by my hon. and gallant Friend, which appears to have been deduced by a newspaper from the estimated figures applicable to an exceptional case. The works in question will be of great public utility and are providing a means of absorbing a considerable amount of unemployed labour. I am satisfied that the public money spent on them is not being wasted.
1693| (b)Schemes for the, execution of which highway authorities are responsible. | |||
| Road. | Length in miles. | Estimated Cost. | |
| New Construction. | Widening. | ||
| £ | |||
| Great West Road | 5.0 | — | 931,586 |
| Great West Road extension | 3.0 | — | 146,000 |
| Croydon By.pass Road | 2.25 | 1.5 | 187,250 |
| Western Avenue Sections in L.C.C. and Middlesex Areas. | 2.0 | — | 50,000 |
| Sudbury Spur | — | .33 | 15,000 |
| Eltham By.pass Road—Sections in L.C.C. and Kent areas and including the Kidbrook Park extension. | 3.5 | 253,049 | |
| New Cambridge Road—Sections in Middlesex and Herts. | 10.37 | — | 509,000 |
| New Chertsey Road—Sections in Chiswick U.D. | .5 | — | 59,000 |
| North Circular Road—Sections in Middlesex and Essex. | 6.5 | .3 | 612,000 |
| Shooter's Hill By.pass Road—Sections in L.C.C. and Kent areas. | 3.0 | — | 168,100 |
| South Circular Road | .66 | — | 25,000 |
| SCHEDULE II. | ||||
| SOME OF THE MORE IMPORTANT ARTERIAL ROAD WORKS IN THE PROVINCES. | ||||
| Local Authority. | Road. | Length in miles. | Estimated Cost. | |
| New Construction. | Widening. | |||
| £ | ||||
| Durham County Council | Easington—W. Hartlepool | 8.21 | — | 271,000 |
| Flints County Council | Rhyl—Gronant | 4.02 | — | 36,000 |
| Lancashire County Council | Liverpool—Ormskirk | 1.21 | — | 69,042 |
| Eston Urban District Council | Grangetown—Redcar | 1.36 | — | 27,710 |
| Redcar Urban District Council | Redcar—Estor | 3 | — | 51,557 |
| Dundee Town Council | Ring Road (portion) | 1.375 | — | 58,000 |
| Leeds City Council | Ring Road (portions) | 2.5 | — | 101,591 |
| Liverpool City | Allterton Road—Heath Road | 2.55 | — | 141,750 |
| Heath Road—Woolton Road | ||||
| Portsmouth County Borough Council. | Paulsgrove Road | 1 | — | 43,000 |
| Sheffield City Council | — | 1.88 | — | 73,721 |
| Southport County Borough Council. | Liverpool Road to Waterloo Road. | 1.25 | — | 78,112 |
| East Sussex County Council | Brighton—London Road | — | 6 | 99,271 |
| Lancashire County Council | Liverpool—Prescot | — | 3.06 | 174,426 |
| Glasgow City Council | Maryhill Road | — | .72 | 60,000 |
| Nottingham County Borough council. | Hucknall Road (1st Section) | — | 0.45 | 26,400 |
| Hucknall Road (2nd Section) | — | 1.03 | 52,000 |