Britain: An official handbook > 1977

TRANSPORT AND COMMUNICATIONS
301
Road Mileage
Motorways
Bridges and
Tunnels
Road Safety
gramme is being given to those schemes, such as by-passes of historic towns,
which will bring major economic and environmental benefits. In Wales one
of the Government’s first priorities is to improve links between the main
ports of south Wales. In Scotland the highest priority in the road programme
is being given to oil-related road developments. The Government is generally
opposed to the building of new urban motorways because of their environ¬
mental impact and high cost, although in exceptional circumstances their
construction may be required.
In 1974 road traffic declined for the first time since 1957, primarily as a
result of substantially higher fuel costs, after several years of growth averaging
5 per cent a year. Traffic recovered slightly in 1975, rising by I-8 per cent to
241,182 million vehicle-kilometres, of which cars and taxis accounted for
80 per cent.
In mid-1976 Great Britain had about 214,000 miles (344,400 kilometres) of
public highway. There were 9,670 miles (15,562 kilometres) of trunk roads,
of which 1,322 miles (2,128 kilometres) were motorways; 20,500 miles (32,992
kilometres) of principal roads, of which some 60 miles (97 kilometres) were
motorways; and 183,830 miles (295,846 kilometres) of other roads.
In Northern Ireland in mid-1976 there were 14,430 miles (23,223 kilo¬
metres) of public roads comprising 395 miles (636 kilometres) of trunk roads,
1,033 miles (1,662 kilometres) of Class I roads, 1,760 miles (2,832 kilometres)
of Class II roads, 2,938 miles (4,728 kilometres) of Class III roads and 8,304
miles (13,364 kilometres) of unclassified roads.
At the end of March 1976 in England 1,185 miles (1,907 kilometres) of trunk
motorways had been opened for traffic and construction had started on a
further 84 miles (135 kilometres). There were some 55 miles (89 kilometres)
of local authority motorway in use and a further 4 miles (6 kilometres) under
construction. In Wales 27 miles (43 kilometres) of trunk motorway were in
use and 30 miles (48 kilometres) under construction. In Scotland about 115
miles (185 kilometres) of trunk and local authority motorway had been opened
and construction had started on a further 11 miles (18 kilometres). About 67
miles (108 kilometres) of motorway were in use in Northern Ireland. The
motorway network in Britain is shown on the map at the end of the book.
Modern bridges include the suspension bridge across the Firth of Forth and
the Severn Bridge, both incorporating major advances in suspension bridge
design, and a £10 million continuous steel box-girder bridge across the
river Clyde at Erskine. A bridge across the river Humber, with a span of
4,626 feet (1,410 metres)—longer than any existing bridge span in the world—
is to be completed in 1978.
Among major recent tunnel schemes has been the second Mersey crossing
of which the first twin tunnel was opened in 1971 and the second in 1974. A
second crossing of the Thames at Hartford, Kent, is under construction and
should be completed in 1977.
Britain’s road accident record is considerably better than that of many other
countries, even though it has one of the highest densities of road traffic in
the world. There has been a long-term decline in road casualties and a
substantial fall in casualty rates. In 1975, 6,350 people were killed on the roads
of Great Britain, about 77,000 seriously injured and 241,000 slightly injured.
Modern roads, designed for present-day traffic and segregating pedestrians