The Waterbury Democrat., 1935-04-19

Boston-In the interests of econ omy, efficiency and safety, the
 limited motorway' type of con- struction will characterize the highway engineering of New Eng land in the future, in the opinion
 of the New England Regional Planning Commission. A graphic presentation of the essential fea-
 lures of the ''limitetd motorway," prepared by the Regional Pldn- ming Commission, was published in booklet form here today by the New England Council, all-NeW England development organization, for distribution to New England legislators, public officials, and business men.
 In statements accompanylng publication of the booklet, Victor M, Cutter, chairman of the Re- gional Planning Commission, and Dudley Harmon, executive vice. president of the New England Council, stressed the increased ne- cessity for highways engineered to promote safety and the need Tor greater economy and efficiency Tn highway COnStructloH.
 How the factor of safety can be increased and how traffic can be more efficiently handled is brought out in the text and numerous il- lustrations of the booklets, which also shows how car capacity can be increased 200 to 300 per cent by incorporating the new engineering features which characterize the "limited motorway." Through cor- trasting drawings the advantages of the future motorway are com- pared with the hazards of the present type of road. Traffic circles and grade separations are shown replacing the old crossways. Sepa- | rate lanes for opposed lines cf traffic do away with dangers iron! | skidding and cutting in and con- trol of border land and it's uses permits access to the highway only at properly designed entrances which make accidents virtually
 impossible.
 Millions Spent to Date
 "In New England, as elsewhere in the United States, almost count less millions of dollars have been poured into road construction and re reconstruction in the last twenty years," Mir. Harmon pointed out. Expenditures considered appal- lingly great ten or fifteen years ago have multiplied rather than diminished. Yet it has frequently happened that highways have been hardly finished before they have been admitted to be inadequate for the traffic demands upon them, and more, rather than less, haz- ardous from safety standpoint. "Studies made by the Regional Planning Commission and now published by the New England Council undertake to present,
 graphically and simply, the essen tial features of the limited motor- way as the type of highway which New England must and will have in the future to carry the major traffic streams of the region. The
 current booklets shows the essen tial features of such a thorough fare and why they are necessary
 in the interests of securing a rapid flow of traffic in combination with LAc tuIAAhtoAh oCESl CO OL odAChSs "Highway accidents can be
 greately reduced" said Mir. Cut
 ter's statement, through three ap-
 breaches to the problem; educa- ton of highway users to encour- age safe practices, enforcement of
 regulations to promote highway
 safety, and engineering to produce
 safer highways.
 "The study published today by the New England Council shows how accidents on our highways
 can be reduced by the third meth od-- engineering" he said. Tt i5
 not contended that engineering is a 'cure-alr which will eliminate all accidents, but over half of all | accidents on our highways can be eliminated by modern highway design. New England must work towards some such program as outlined in this booklet.
 During the last five years S.595 persons have been killed and 367,- 58S persons injured in New Eng land. The cost of property dam age, medical expenses and wage losses is estimated to be $430,000,- | 900. When we realize that less
 than $2O0, 100000 was spent on
 the New England states highway
 system itself during that same per
 iod. we get some idea of the cost
 Illness of using obsolete highway
 design.
 "The most modern approved de. sign for the limited motorway in.