Historic Highways

Road Plan for Lancashire 1949

CHAPTER ONE

THE NECESSITY FOR AN ADEQUATE ROAD SYSTEM IN THE COUNTY

General Definitions -The Economic Factor - Economic-Social Factors - Social Factors -The Accident Factor - Summary.

GENERAL DEFINITIONS

The road system of a county might be termed adequate when it permits all its users to move economically, at a generally acceptable speed and under conditions of the maximum safety which can be afforded, between their various points of departure and arrival. For later consideration of traffic movements, these points may be treated in the following respective groups in which

(a) Both lie outside the County, but are linked by routes which traverse it.
(b) One is within the County and the other elsewhere.
(c) Both are within the County.

The case for an adequate road system in Lancashire depends upon the examination of several factors, and these may be classed as Economic, Social, or a combination of the two.

THE ECONOMIC FACTOR

Industrial Traffic

England is a trading nation, and Lancashire is one of her principal workshops. The roads which serve this great workshop have many and diverse functions.

They bring raw materials from the ports,* and from other parts of the Country, to Lancashire factories, and later deliver the finished or semi-finished articles to their destinations ; they carry raw materials from sources within the County; they bear almost the whole of the products of agriculture-a Lancashire industry of much greater magnitude than is commonly appreciated; and they carry a continual flow of heavy and light merchandise passing to and from the cities, towns and villages.

Transport costs affect the selling price of goods-whether for export or for home consumption--considerably more than might be expected. In many cases these costs represent more than one-half the retail price of the article.

One striking instance of how transport enters into manufacture arises from tracing the possible moves involved in converting a bale of cotton into a finished piece of cloth for export today. It may proceed from Liverpool to Oldham to be spun, and thence to Blackburn or Preston to be woven; from there it may go to Manchester for examination by the merchant, and then to places as far afield as Clitheroe to be finished; it may be returned to Manchester to be packed and so back to Liverpool for export.

The particular importance of having an adequate communications system in Lancashire has long been realised by its industrial leaders. Mr. J. Bennett Storey, speaking in 1938 as, General Manager of the Lancashire Industrial Development Council, epitomised these views by saying that: " Lancashire's attainment of industrial greatness as one of the chief producing and exporting centres of the Country implies the ability to move goods quickly, cheaply, and easily from place to place."

*During the year ending 30th June, 1948, the quantity of cargo moved to or from the Port of Liverpool alone, by long-distance road transport, amounted to nearly 2 1/2 million tons. Every ton of this was carried over some portion of the Lancashire road system. t In his paper "Transport and Industrial Development in Lancashire," presented at the Conference on the Modern" Problems of Moving Men and Merchandise, held in Manchester on 5th July, 1938.

Since these views were thus expressed Britain has waged a desperate war and is now in the thick of a struggle to rehabilitate herself as a great trading nation.

For Lancashire to make its fullest potential contribution to a successful outcome of that struggle, and for its goods to compete in world markets or be available in this Country at reasonable prices, a road system allowing vehicular transport to operate at minimum cost is a prime essential.

This implies making adequate provision for industrial traffic to travel in safety, at its most economical speed, and without conflicting with the interests of other road users.

ECONOMIC-SOCIAL FACTORS

Travel by Public Service Vehicle and Private Car

The time spent annually in travelling from home to place of occupation, and on business journeys, amounts to an enormous number of hours. Present road conditions in Lancashire extend this time needlessly, resulting in wastage of money and needless strain on the health and well-being of the people.

The average distance between home and work was increasing before the war and has taken an upward leap in recent years. The majority of persons, particularly among industrial and business workers, probably prefer to live at some distance from their work. They regard the resulting expenditure of time in daily travelling, however, as a necessary evil-something which eats into the hours of sleep in the mornings, and into time for leisure and cultural pursuits or recreation in the evenings.

The needless extension of time absorbed on business travelling reduces the number of hours which can be spent productively, with consequent general increase of production costs.

It is difficult to place .too high a value on the economic and social benefits which the provision of an adequate r9ad system would confer on these groups of the road-using public. Operating costs of public service vehicles and of private cars would fall, business overheads would be reduced, and-probably the most important factor although an intangible one- the wear and tear on the nervous and physical health of the people would be relieved very appreciably.

SOCIAL FACTORS

These may be grouped under the headings Holiday Traffic, Amenity, and Social Services, and are treated in that order below.

(a) Holiday Traffic. Improvement of the Lancashire road system would provide the public over a very wide field with better facilities for holiday travelling, whether it be by motor coach, private car or motor cycle, pedal cycle or on foot. The greater proportion of holiday traffic uses the roads at week-ends and, in fact, provides the highest recorded figures of traffic congestion on routes serving holiday resorts.

An adequate road system would reduce the time and fatigue involved by journeys to seaside and country. In effect it would bring industrial regions within easier reach of their very necessary recreational and holiday centres. This in itself would make these industrial regions much more tolerable as places in which to live and to work.

An economic factor would also arise from the consequent reduction in costs of travelling both by motor-coach and by car. Reduced maintenance and running expenses would in the long term raise the number of people able to afford private cars.

(b) Amenity. Roads which are pleasant and well laid out make a hidden but direct contribution to the health and mental ease of the whole community.

Something of this nature already achieved in Lancashire is the Aughton By-pass which was completed in 1938 (see Plate 8, opposite Page 16). One approaches it from the north along a nondescript stretch of semi-built-up road. The feeling of mental freedom on seeing the by-pass ~ with its clean verges, and its smooth alignment gently curving away into the distance-is quite pronounced.

NECESSITY FOR ADEQUATE ROAD SYSTEM

Amenity is fostered by such a scheme in two ways. Firstly there is the obvious improvement of conditions in the immediate vicinity. This has the secondary result, assuming that adequate allowance has been made for all potential users, of attracting traffic from many minor roads over a wide area. These latter roads can then be rendered adequate for the residue of traffic still using them, by the completion of small local schemes of a minor character only. thus preserving any rural characteristics or local amenities they might possess.

(The preservation of amenity in the very large areas of Lancashire yet free from industrial encroachment has been one of the objects borne in mind in framing the proposals outlined later in this Report.)

(c) Social Services. A road system which permits freedom of movement with safety would increase the efficiency or cheapen the operating cost of all the services using transport in Lancashire.

To quote only a few instances, it would improve the mobility of the many ancillaries of the National Health Service; it would facilitate the speedy functioning of the Fire Services; and possibly most of all it would lighten the heavy burden which present inadequacies of the road system have placed on the shoulders of the Police.

THE ACCIDENT FACTOR

Its Importance

The Accident Factor has not hitherto been singled out in this review of the economic and social advantages accruing from the provision in Lancashire of an adequate road system.

The reason is that the reduction of avoidable accidents is an underlying object behind every road proposal made in this Report, and enters into every consideration of the adequacy of a road system.

In one form or another it will constantly arise later in these pages. Road casualties in the Lancashire Police Area alone (Fig. 1) shew that no apology need be made for attaching such high importance to this one factor .

Road casualties during fourteen of the years 1932-48 amounted to no less than 82,060 -well over the entire population figure for Warrington, and only slightly less than that for Burnley, Wigan, or Southport.

(How many more men, women and children were killed or crippled on roads within Lancashire County Boroughs-in or by vehicles using them only because of the absence of adequate " through " routes in the County-is unknown.)

Public Opinion

Public opinion appears to have become curiously atrophied in regard to road accidents. A form of mass fatalism seems to exist, arising from the possibly merciful belief that " It can't be me," which is in direct opposition to the soberly truthful " There, but for the grace of God, go I."

Too much publicity cannot be given to the sombre thought that within 24 hours of this moment no less than 13 people will have been killed on the inadequate road system of Great Britain.

A railway accident involving one or more deaths is headlined in the National Press and broadcast in the News Bulletins. On the other hand, 4 people are killed and 108 injured every week within the Administrative County of Lancashire-unnoticed except locally and by friends or relatives.

Could the public be brought to comprehend the immensity of the daily tragedy being played out on the roads, a wave of feeling would be generated which would demand national expenditure on a vast scale to eliminate this social evil.

Unfortunately, public reaction in the mass has been hitherto so slight as to produce little or no effect on many successive Chancellors of the Exchequer.

Counter Measures

Valuable work has been done by Joint Advisory Committees on Road Safety; 1 teaching of Road Safety measures to young school-children; by Police experiments such as the Lancashire " Courtesy Cops"* campaign of 1938/39; and by the efforts of Hi Authorities to maintain their roads and carry out as many small improvements of danger spots as limited grants permit.

It becomes increasingly obvious, however, that all these counter-measures are simply palliatives. As normal conditions return, bringing increased traffic to the roads, their cannot be hoped to stem the increasing tide of accidents.

By far the greatest reduction will be attained by modernising our road layouts to them to cope adequately with the traffic which uses them.

Figure 1
ROAD CASUALTIES IN THE LANCASHIRE POLICE AREA
(Except for 1947 the numbers of casualties are slightly more in the Administrative County)

SUMMARY

In this Chapter the basic functions of an adequate road system have been described, and the several factors warranting provision of such a system in Lancashire have been discussed as briefly as possible.

Thus the aim and the grounds for the proposals contained in the Report have been defined. In a succeeding Chapter the present road system of the Administrative County is reviewed to ascertain how it compares with the conditions for adequacy set out above.

*Home Office Experimental Motor Patrol Scheme.