HC Deb 03 July 1957 vol 572 c120W
86. Mr. Russell

asked the Minister of Transport and Civil Aviation if he will give an estimate of the number of vehicles on the roads of Great Britain in three, five and ten years' time, respectively; and to what extent he expects that the existing programme of road construction will absorb this additional traffic without further increasing congestion.

Mr. Watkinson

Long-term estimates of this nature are very speculative. So far as can be foreseen at present, the number of vehicles in use in 1960, 1962 and 1967 might be of the order of 8, 9 and 11 millions, respectively, but these cannot be regarded as anything but purely tentative figures. For this reason, the programme of road construction must be and must remain the largest that can be reconciled with competing demands on our economy.