BUREAU OF PUBLIC ROADS. 467 



variety of conflicting predictions and conclusions, usually based 

 upon fragmentary or localized data, rather than facts. 



The problems of an economic nature created by the development 

 of highway transportation, as to its proper relation to rail transpor- 

 tation, the justifiable expenditure of public funds for the provision 

 and maintenance of the roads, the apportionment of the burden of 

 taxation, the regulation of the use of the roads, these problems, to 

 name only a few, can never be properly solved by theorizing. They 

 are so fundamental, and the interests affected are so varied and con- 

 flicting, that impartial and scientific information is the only safe 

 basis for a rational and satisfactory answer. 



A sufficient volume of highway transportation data in typical 

 sections of the country must be produced in the near future to pro- 

 vide an authentic basis for analysis, discussion, and an intelligent 

 formation and appraisal of policies to govern the highway transpor- 

 tation of freight and passengers, as well as data necessary to the 

 formation of policies governing the construction and maintenance 

 of highway systems. 



With the conviction that a large volume of highway transporta- 

 tion facts is a prerequisite to the solution of many of the problems 

 of highway construction, maintenance, and transportation, and unin- 

 fluenced by prior beliefs or prejudices, relying on the evidence 

 secured to indicate the answers, the bureau, in cooperation with the 

 Connecticut State Highway Commission, inaugurated, in September, 

 1922, a one-year survey of highway transportation over the Con- 

 ne«ticut highway system. 



It is hoped that this survey and similar investigations to follow 

 will produce data which will serve the following purposes: 



1. Serve as an aid in allocating construction and maintenance 

 funds according to the distribution of traffic over the highways. 



2. Enable the prediction of future traffic. 



3. Determine the daily and seasonal traffic density of passenger 

 cars and motor trucks on primary and secondary highways. 



4. Determine the range of gross loads, net commodity loads, and 

 the prevalence, amount, and character of overloading. 



5. Determine seasonal variations in movement of commodities. 



6. Determine the average clearance width of trucks of various 

 capacities, and the relation of the width of the truck to truck over- 

 loading. 



7. Determine the character of commodities shipped by highway, 

 and the nature of the shipment, whether by regular trucking com- 

 panies, by contracting truck operators, or by privately operated 

 trucks. 



8. Determine the length of haul for motor trucks of various 

 capacities and the influence of commodities and character of pro- 

 ducing areas on the length of haul. 



9. Determine the relation of motor transport by highway to other 

 methods of transj^ortation, as to rates, freight, classification, sched- 

 ules of operation, delivery time, net tonnage, and length of haul. 



10. Determine the number of passengers transported by highway 

 and the percentage of business and nonbusiness use of motor cars. 



