On Dec 4, 12:12*pm, wrote:
On Dec 2, 11:26 pm, "Brian Watson" wrote:

A straight line being the shortest route between two points was not a Roman
discovery.

That discovery seems to have been lost on the last few generations of
motorway and dual carriageway builders however.

B2003

It may not be generally known that a basic principle of good highway
design is that you shouldn't have very long straight lengths of road
as it can induce boredom and drivers can lose attention. Long gentle
curves are preferable in keeping drivers aware and are also more
pleasing on the eye. Mind you, the opportunity in this country for any
long straight is pretty remote, what with having to avoid unnecessry
demolition and minimising earthworks and structures. In any case the
funding arrangement for new roads is such that there is rarely enough
to build more than a couple of miles of new road at a time and the new
road then has to join back to the existing network.

Peter