Daily Post - 16.02.1943, Side 2

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DAILY POST
DAILY POST
ta publishMÍ by
Blaðahringurinn.
Bdltors: S. Benediktsson.
A. L. Merson.
Offlee: 12, Austursta-æti. Tel.
3715. Reykjavlk. Printed by
Alþýðuprentsmiðj»n Ltd.
Tuesday, Feb. 16th, 1943.
Presldent Benesh
Speaks
The President of the Repu-
blic of Czechoslovakia has oft-
en spoken to the world before,
but his recent speech is espe-
cially outstanding for its vig-
our and optimism. The Ger-
mans will not halt in their Rus-
sian retreat, he says, until they
have reached Bessarabia and
the Pripet Marshes. They find
themselves to-day in a position
similar to that of the late
Spring of 1918. Their final all-
out offensive has failed miser-
ably within sight of their ob-
jectives, and with that failure
their last hope for victory has
vanished. The prospect they
now face is that of a grim and
losing fight to the death, with
only one possible ending—un-
conditional surrender to the
TJnited Nations.
Do the Nazis realize all this?
We might have doubted it
were it not for the immediate
grim retaliation that the speech
of President Benesh evoked. A
group of Czechoslovakian intel-
lectuals were rounded up and
sent to a concentration camp,
and the warning was issued
that any further similar pron-
ouncements by the Czech Presi-
dent would bring down the
same punishment on the heads
of other innocent men.
Let us not fail to appreciate
the significance of this event.
The spotlight that President
Benesh turned on himself by
his courageous speech has pi-
erced far beyopd him, to show
the Nazi monster withing in
toi’ment in the shadows bey-
ond. It is the torment of de-
speration and fear — fear of
the light of truth from which
these criminals can no longer
hide — fear of the inescapable
consequences of their cumula-
tive crimes against humanity.
The Nazi mind can find expres-
sion for these feelings in only
one way. But by their craven
brutality they are only piling
Our Post^War Road System.
What Can Be Done?
S This article is by an officer presently stationed in Ice- S
^ land who is in private life a Uwn-planning expert. •

The report of the Institute of
Municipal and County Engin-
eers on post-war planning and
re-construction, concerning new
motor-roads, an account of
which was published a few days
ago in Daily Post, is a matter
of outstanding interest. It is
one of many such reports pro-
duced since re-construction and
planning became household
words by various groups of ex-
perts, each dealing with his own
particular speciality. All of
them should be carefully studi-
ed by every citizen, so that
when the time comes for him
to cast his municipal or Gov-
ernmental vote for or against
any particular policy of plann-
ing he will be able to do so in-
telligently and on his own jud-
gement.
EXPERIMENTS
Since the beginning of the
gasoline-age, when roads came
into their own again after a
century of eclipse by railways,
many countries have made not-
able attempts at planning their
road-systems — laying out new
roads and remodelling old ones
— just as these things used to
be done in the great road-traf-
fic ages of the past, whether in
the Roman Empire or more re-
cently during ' the stage-coach
days of the 18th century.
America and Germany have
led in these experiments: Ger-
many with the country-wide „
system of autobahnen, and
America with the system of
parkways and planned high-
ways which, though not yet
country-wide, are yet a greater
contribution to progress than
the autobahn by reason of being
much more advanced in const-
ruction and in detail planning.
They, rather than the autobahn
should be our principal. object
for imitation in the post-war
period.
up the score against themselves,
— a score which must be settled
with justice and without mer-
cy on that fast approaching Day
of Retribution.
WHAT TO GO FOR
Briefly, the road-planner’s
objective is two-fold: first, to
canalise all traffic, to eliminate
things like crossroads and dan-
gerous junction-feeds as well as
more obvious defects like sud-
den bends and bad contouring
resulting in stiff gradients or
bottlenecks; to give the rnotor-
ist an approximation of rail-
way conditions to make his driv
ing less dangerous, faster, and
less wearing to his machine.
Secondly, the planner’s objec-
tive is to avoid doing what so
many railways did — spoiling
the countryside and neglecting
to take advantage of beautiful
scenery to make travelling
more pleasant. Not all railways
made this mistake: for instance
there is a famous scenic rail-
way in Scotland from Calland-
er to Oban which was planned
to give the traveller a typical
cross-section of Highland scen-
ery, as well as to take him
quickly to his destination. And
there are others, especially some
famous ones in Switzerland. It
is in this way that our post-
war main roads should be laid
out. And if they have their
bridges and other architectural
accompaniments — including
their railings and verges — de-
signed by a skilful architect
who understands ei^gineeriíig
as well as elegance'of design,
there is no reason why they
should not themselves adorn
the countryside they pass
through, as well as presenting
it in the form of fine views and
vistas to the passing motorist.
DUAL ROADWAYS
It is greatly to be hoped that
the four-Iane single highway is
a thing of the past. Not only
was it extremely dangerous
especially at night when a so-
lid blaze of flashing, on-coming
headlights, but by its lack of
sound-blanketing it made for a
lot of nerve-wracking both of
motorists and others. By its
clumsy width it not only ten—
ded to throw the rest of the
countryside out of scale but re-
quired an extravagant amount
of excavation and filling when
passing over hilly country. By
building roads in the form of
dual carriageways separated
by a wide strip of bushes and,
if possible, trees, all these ev-
ils are avoided. The central
strip, especially if it can be
made to overflow with green-
ery, does more than anything
else to counteract, from the
landscape point of view, the
hard effect of the roadways.
Since it enables the two road
ways to be, if necessary, on
different levels, owing to
contours, it saves money and.
labor on excavation — or “cut-
and-fill”, as the engineer calls
it. As soon as the bushes grow
to the height of three feet or
so the menace of on-coming
headlights is completely eli-
minated. By cutting up the va-
rious hard surfaces comprising
the road and its vehicles into
smaller’ parts with sound-ab-
sorbenc greenery between, the
menace of noise is greatly re-
duced.
FLY-OVER JUNCTIONS
Neariy everyone has seen an
air photograph of a fly-over
junction, if he has not yet seen
one in reality,. Where there are
cross-roads and junctions on
our new roads — as of course
there must be — let there al-
Continued on page 3.
Medical Aid To lissiaj
Already Acknowledged .......... 3,900.42 krónur •
From the Ward Room of the Royal V
Navy camp, per R. N. Chaplain . . 1,731.00 — ^
From the crew of a Merchant Vessel, y
per Chief Officer t........ 126,31 — ^
Y. M. C. A. box................ 33,00 — S
___________ V
y
Total 5,840.73 krónur V
V