Page:Popular Mechanics 1928 01.pdf/11

 



What is claimed to be the fastest public highway in the world for motor vehicles has been developed in the vicinity of Milan, Italy, with such success during recent months that plans have been projected that call for the ultimate addition of many hundreds of miles of such highway. These are known as "autostrade." Believing that speed in itself is no serious hazard in modern motor-car travel, because of the high degree of mechanical reliability of these vehicles, the Italian highway builders have created roads leading to four divergent points, near Milan, on which there are no speed restrictions. On these broad, smooth thoroughfares, motor cars travel from fifty to eighty miles an hour and the records show an almost negligible accident factor. The engineers have reduced the number of curves to a minimum and eliminated all grade crossings. Furthermore, the road is well protected by fences which shut out possible intruders. There are no abrupt grades in the autostrade. All cars are checked on entering and leaving these highways. The control gates are in charge of watchmen who exact a moderate toll from users, note the number and name of the car and, of course, are in a position to exclude any drivers who may be, for some reason, incompetent. Because fast traffic is an impossibility through towns and villages, these new roads have been laid out to avoid all intermediate centers of population. In the year just passed, the average daily traffic on the thoroughfares amounted to about 2,000 cars, and the next extensions of the system that are now contemplated will be similar roads to Brescia and Venice.



  Self-lighting cigarets have been introduced by an English dealer. A tiny disk, containing paper and an igniting material, is attached to their tips. Strike them against the packet and they are lighted.

