Roadside facilities for trunk roads.

Since towns and villages developed at points where good lines of communications crossed, it follows that the early traveller journeyed from one village to the next and looked to the village to provide all his needs. This has largely remained the case until, with the growth of traffic, towns and villages are being bypassed to such an extent that it is becoming very desirable to consider the facilities that are readily available on the new alignments of long distance roads. The paper examines the services that are currently provided on the improved route of the A303 trunk road for the 150 kilometre length from Amesbury to Exeter and compares these to what was available on the old route. It queries whether the facilities, which range from restaurants, cafes and lay-by tea cabins; garages and petrol stations; telephones and public conveniences and picnic areas, are satisfactory. It considers the balance to be struck between private and public provision and suggests that a greater number of picnic areas, with toilets, telephones and parking for cars, caravans and lorries, should be provided by the highway authority. The paper gives some of the factors to be considered for such sites.(a) for the covering abstract of the proceedings see IRRD 274491.