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TYPICAL OLD BRIDGE 

 A road is as strong as Its weakest link, in this case an antiquated 

 bridge. Repairing and building bridges is one ot the important 

 tasb ift-the WPA {arm-to-marlet road Improvement program. 



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''■'■ ^ • TYPICAL NEW BRIDGE 

 Built with reinforced concrete to stand heavy loads, floods, and 

 lots ot traffic. This bridge wiJI not break down. 



^^V^HE drought, although it has 



^*~"/^left in its wake destitution that 



^^_/ can be met only with emergency 



measures, has given a definite stimulus 



to farm-to-market road improvement. 



Hundreds of farmers, certified to the 

 Works Progress Administration as in 

 need of emergency help, have been as- 

 signed to road hehabilitation jobs. The 

 program serves the double purpose of 

 tiding destitute families over the emerg- 

 ency and making possible the construc- 

 tion of many more miles of all weather 

 rural roads — roads that in the past have 

 failed the farmer when he needed them 

 most. 



Since the WPA started its rural road 

 improvement work in Illinois early last 

 Fall, more than 6,700 miles of all- 

 weather roads were constructed or re- 

 paired up to July 31 of this year. The 

 program reaches into every county in Il- 

 linois, either through county-wide or 

 township sponsored projects, according 

 to Robert J. Dunham state WPA ad- 

 ministrator. 



"The state of Illinois is, perhaps, 

 more road building conscious now than 

 ever before," Administrator Dunham said 

 recently, "yet more than 60 percent of 

 Illinois farms are still located on roads 

 impassable during several months a year." 



He cited figures to show that the state's 

 road network consists of 13,350 ntiles of 

 high type trunk highways and improved 

 secondary roads. There are 84,245 miles 

 of dirt roads. Major highways have not 

 had serious problems of development, he 

 said, as the natural desires of federal and 

 state governments have been supported 

 by industrial and commercial groups as 

 well as the motoring public. Appropria- 

 tions have been supplemented by the gas 

 tax and needed highways have been built. 



"But farm-to-market roads — 86 per- 

 cent of the total mileage — despite the 

 intelligent pleadings of the Illinois Agri- 

 cultural Association, the Farms Bureaus 

 and other agricultural groups,! have 

 lagged behind," Administrator Dunham 

 added. "The reason given was lack of 



DECEMBER, 193G 



■'1. 



V 



New 

 Roads 



for 

 Illinois 



6700 Miles of AU Weather 



Country Roads Built and 



Repaired. 



By CHARLES D^VAL 



money rather than lack of need. But 

 that problem has been solved to a great 

 extent by the WPA." 



When the Illinois WPA was given the 

 job of employing workers from the pub- 

 lic relief rolls in rural communities, the 

 farm-to-market road situation presented 

 work opportunities which make it the 

 best WPA projert in the state. In nearly 

 every community were miles of neglected 

 dirt roads, which, with simple grading, 

 drainage and other surface improvements, 

 could be made passable in all seasons. 

 With large numbers of persons on relief 

 rolls able to work, county governments 

 and townships saw the opportunity and 

 requested scores of road improvement 

 projects throughout the state. They found 

 WPA ready to co-operate. -^ 



Today, nearly fifty percent of the state 

 WPA program is directed to the improve- 

 ment of farrh-to-market roads. The value 

 of this work is readily apparent. Thou- 

 sands of farm families are no longer de- 

 pendent on the weather in marketing 

 perishable crops, getting a doctor in 

 times of emergency, getting to town and 

 reaching schools, churches aad other 



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gathering places. Meanwhile, all-weath- 

 er roads increase land values. 



The rural road program has diverted 

 hundreds of thousands of dollars into 

 private industty for the purchase of road 

 surfacing materials — a major factor in 

 the increased business of these industries. 



As of July 31, 1936 WPA workers 

 built 352 miles of hard-surfaced second- 

 ary roads and feeders, while 57 miles of 

 such roads were repaired, a total mileage 

 of 409. Improved, unimproved and all., 

 other secondaty roads, with the exception 

 of hard surfaced, show 4,144 miles of 

 new construction and 2,155 miles of re- 

 pairs, making a total of 6,229, or a:-, 

 grand total of secondaty road improve- \ 

 ments of 6,708 miles. 



The economic and social values in- 

 herent in the present road improvement 

 program cannot be estimated. The profit - 

 or loss on the operation of a farm is 

 often determined by the cost of deliver- 

 •ing products or livestock to dipping 



E>ints. Prices for farm produce are often 

 gher during the season of impassable 

 roads and farmers on poor roads are 

 penalized. Transportation of everything 

 h/ ships or receives costs him more and 

 thus raises his operating costs. 



As WPA pushes its rural road im- 

 provement program over Illinois it is 

 ever uppermost in the minds of super- 

 vising engineers that a highway is only as 

 strong as its weakest link. This in many 

 cases today is an antiquated bridge built 

 in the horse-and -buggy days and incap- 

 able of cartying trucks and buses that 

 weigh as much as twenty tons when 

 loaded. 



The modern philosophy of road build- 

 ing recognizes that miles and miles of im- 

 proved highways are of little value if 

 farmers are confined within a few miles 

 radius of their farms because 'libe)' dare 

 not venture across bridges that might 

 collapse under a loaded truck. The prob- 

 lem is also a concern of commercial car- 

 riers and particularly school officials, who 

 transport pupils to and from school in 

 large buses. \ 



