New Roads or Old
A principle much under discussion at the moment, both by road-makers and preservers of amenities,. is whether it is better, where possible, to enlarge and straighten existing roads or to cut new ones. It is usually forgotten, I think, how much the road may affect the farmer. There are trunk roads that have ruined farms. The road is as much a barrier as a river would be. In Germany, where huge straight roads have been made chiefly for strategic purposes, successions of bridges have been thrown over the roads to connect the fields on the two sides; and even with their help farmers grumble a deal at the trouble of perpetually crossing these highly pitched slopes. The reason commonly given for not adapting an old road is that it is cheaper to acquire, and destroy, agricultural land than to compensate owners of the margins of old roads, who can always argue that the site has a building value. The point of view is a good example of the general contempt for agriculture.
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