Report of the Steering Group

Suggested remedies

18

We pointed out in paragraph 10 that the United States and Canada are about a generation further into the Motor Age than we are. Their volumes of motor traffic, per head of the population, are already what ours will be at some time in the future. Yet, though their traffic problem is by universal consent a severe one there is heavy economic waste through traffic congestion, and tragic waste of human life—they have not suffered the ultimate calamities that we are suggesting lie ahead for Britain. Can we not do what they have done? If one asks how American cities have at least kept pace with the growth of motor traffic, the major answer is by the construction of new roads, bridges, underpasses and the like on a truly gigantic scale. Some of these roads are magnificent engineering achievements driven through the hearts of the cities with great ingenuity—but also, all too often, with a brutal disregard for the appearance and the amenity of the cities they serve. Combined with the provision of off-street parking facilities on an equally large scale, they make it possible for a considerable proportion of the working population of nearly every American and Canadian city to drive to their work. If this solution has worked in America, would it not work here?