Conurbation: A Survey of Birmingham and the Black Country (1948)

Date	1948
Owned by	Steven
Type	Publications (see all artefacts)

Context

In the immediate post-war world, there was a need to plan for future, this is obviously all about Birmingham, Wolverhampton and the Black Country. Whilst it's mostly concerned with items such as local government, population, housing and industry, Chapter V is all about "communications" which is meant in the old-fashioned way as a euphemism for "transport". Obviously it mostly focuses on rail and more bizarrely, waterways; but there is an interesting section on roads including maps and descriptions of new trunk road requirements in and around the conurbation.

Rather hilariously to modern eyes, it describes the A4123 Wolverhampton - Birmingham New Road as "provides swift and direct communication between the two largest industrial centres in the area, and its extensive use has proved the wisdom of bold and energetic planning".

Interestingly, it foresees a future where traffic levels are so high that it would force goods traffic back onto rail, and even onto the waterways. Radical stuff indeed for 1948.

Contents of Note

• Description and map of future proposals for new Trunk roads, including the early routing of what became the M6 through Cannock Chase