§ 108. Sir W. Wakefieldasked the Minister of Transport and Civil Aviation what estimates have been made as to the extent to which travel congestion in central London would be relieved by the expenditure of £50 million on road improvements in London, as compared with a similar sum spent on the proposed Victoria tube.
§ Mr. WatkinsonThe relief of travel congestion from the Victoria Line or from a similar expenditure on road improvements are not directly comparable; but undoubtedly either would draw some traffic off the other and both would 171W generate some new traffic. I expect the London Travel Committee to advise me on the contribution which the tube would make and my Ministry is also studying the problem of road improvements.
§ 109. Sir W. Wakefieldasked the Minister of Transport and Civil Aviation what estimates have been made as to the extent to which the expenditure of £50 million on the proposed Victoria tube will help to relieve unemployment, as compared with a similar expenditure on roads, bridges, and flyovers.
§ Mr. WatkinsonLondon Transport's broad estimate of the measure of the labour element involved in a six-year programme to build the Victoria Line tube and its rolling stock is not less than 50,000 man years. It is more difficult to estimate the total labour involved in the same expenditure on road schemes, but it would probably be of the order of one-tenth of the tube figures.