§ 1. Mr. Gwilym Robertsasked the Minister of Transport what study he has made of the feasibility of underground motorways passing underneath London from north to south and east to west with access to the centre of London; and what is the estimated cost of a three-lane each-way motorway scheme of this type.
§ The Minister of Transport (Mr. Richard Marsh)A study of proposals put forward in 1966 for a network of underground motorways in London showed this approach to be unrealistic on both technical and economic grounds. The cost of a complete underground network would be several thousands of millions of pounds.
§ Mr. RobertsWould not my right hon. Friend agree that the later part of what he has said is not the answer to what I asked for precisely in my Question? What I have asked for is probably the most simple long-term approach from the point of view of providing links with the future Channel Tunnel, the possibility of an airfield at Foulness, and of bringing thousands of commuters into the city centre? Would not my right hon. Friend agree that this is worthy of a further long-term study?
§ Mr. MarshNo, Sir, I am afraid I would not. The technical problems of constructing, operating, and maintaining a system of 60 ft. diameter highway tunnels is not simple, and the difficulty of finding thousands of millions of pounds for them seems insuperable at the moment.
§ Mr. WhitakerAre not there grounds for considering roads under major amenity areas such as Greenwich Park and Hampstead Heath?
§ Mr. MarshRoads in such areas will be considered, but it is a very expensive proposition to build a total network of tunnels.