Roads, European and Spanish transport within the context of the fifties (II)

Tariq BERMEJO FREIRE
Ingeniero de Caminos, Canales y Puertos

ABSTRACT

This work is published in two parts. The second of them is presented below, the first having been included in the January-April 2019 (nº 223) of the Magazine Carreteras.

The fifties were a time of a large development in transportation, as a result of the generalization in the use of big, heavy vehicles, together with expenses and accessibility. Lorries start to be a competition for the railway, which is less competitive, and they start thinking of closing the least profitable lines. Europe starts the reconstruction of road clusters, using again the idea of the XNUMXs of building motorways, being most important those of Germany and Italy, which continued with the road policy, whose good results started to be seen at the end of the decade and during the XNUMXs. Spanish roads started to show signs of improvement after the Modernisation Plan with the adjusting of certain routes and works in the entries of the main cities. With the increase in transit, the necessity became obvious of a new plan, forcing the Government in general, and particularly the Public Works Minister to act in an unhesitating way to solve the problem. In the same way motorization come to Spain with a lot of companies appearing which started to satisfy the needs of users and the needs of the country.

KEYWORDS

Reconstruction, Motorization, Modernisation Plan, Transit, Network of roads, History, Transport.