



•\ *. 



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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 of the innportant 

 tasks in the WPA farm-to-market road improvement program. 



TYPICAL NEW BRIDGE 

 Built with reinforced concrete to stand heavy loads, floods. And 

 lots of traffic. This bridge will not break down. 



i; ilroiit;lit. .iltlioiit;!) it li.is 



^""Y kit in its w.ikc licstitiition that 

 ^__y c.in be met only with emergency 

 mciSLircs, lias t;iven a definite stimulus 

 to fartn-to-market road improvement. 



Hundreds of farmers, certified to the 

 VC'orks Progress Administration as in 

 need of emert;ency help, have been as- 

 si/;ned to road hcliabilitation jobs. The 

 program /serves the double purpose of 

 tiding destitute tamilics 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 tiie farmer when he needed them 

 most. 



Since the WFA started its rural road 

 improvement work in Illinois early last 

 Fall, more than 6,700 miles of all- 

 weattier roads were con.structed 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, accordint; 

 to Robert J. Dunham state W'PA ad- 

 ministrator. 



Tlie state of Illinois is. perhaps. 

 more road building conscious now than 

 ever before," Administrator Dunham said 

 recently, "yet more than 60 percc;nt 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 I.S,3''0 milts of 

 high type trunk highways and improved 

 secondary roads. There are 8 1,2 i'> miles 

 of dirt roads. Major highways have not 

 had serious problems of development, he 

 said, as the natural desires of federal and 

 state go\ernments have bcxn supported 

 by intlustrial and commercial groups as 

 well as the motoring public. Appropria- 

 tions have been supplemented bv the g.is 

 tax and needed highways ha\e been built. 



"But farm-to-markct roads - S6 per- 

 cent of the total mileage - - despite the 

 intelligent pleadings of the Illinois Agri- 

 cultural Association, the Harms Bureaus 

 and other agricultural groups, have 

 lagged behind, ' Administrator DLmham 

 added. "The reason given was lack of 



DECEMBER, 1936 



New 

 Roads 



for 

 Illinois 



6700 Miles of All Weather 



Country Roads Built and 



Repaired. 



By CHARLES DUVAL 



money rather than lack of need. But 

 that problem has been solved to a great 

 extent by (Jie W'PA." 



VC'hen the Illinois WPA was given the 

 job of employing workers from the j^ub- 

 lic relief rolls in rural communities, the 

 farm-to-markct roail situat-ion presented 

 work opportunities which mak^\it the 

 best W'PA project in the state. In rfturlv 

 ever); community were miles ot neglect 

 dirt roads, which, with simple grading, 

 drainage and other surface improvements, 

 could be made passable in all seasons. 

 With large numbers of j^ersons on relief 

 rolls able to work, founty go\ernments 

 and townships saw the opportunity' anil 

 requested scores of road improxement 

 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 fa'rm-to-market roads. 1 he \aUie 

 of this work is readilv 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 

 re.iching schools, churches and other 



gathering places. Meanwliile. all weath- 

 er roads increase land values. 



The rural road program has diverted 

 hundreds of tli()us.inds of dollars into 

 private industry for the purchase of road 

 surfacing materials - a major factor in 

 the increased business ot these industries. 

 •As of July 31. I'V^rt WPA workers 

 built 3''- miles of .hard-surfaced second- 

 ary roads and feeders, while '^"' miles of 

 sudi roads were repaired, a total mileage 

 of 409. Improveci. unimproved and all 

 other secondary roads, with the exception 

 ■ of hard surfaced, show -i, I it miles ot 

 new coitstruction anif J,15^ miles of re- 

 pail's, making a total of .6.2J'.>, or a 

 grand total of secondary road improve- 

 ments of 6. "OS miles. 



The economic and social values in- 

 herent in the present road impruxemcnt 

 . program cannot be estiniatcii. ' The i^rotit 

 or loss on the operation of a tafm is 

 often ticlermincd by the cost of deliver- 

 ing products or livestock ^ shipj^ing 

 points. Prices for farm produce are often 

 higher during rlie se.'ison of impassable 

 toads and farmers on poor roads arc 

 penalized 1 ransportlition of ever\lliing 

 he ships or receives crisis him more .ind 

 thus raises his opcT-ifing costs 



As W'P.-\ pushes its rural -cp.'id-am- 

 provement j-'rog'ram'' over Illinois 'it is 

 ever upperniost ^^ the miniK of siipb<; 

 vj^ising efHnnee'K that a highway is onlv as 

 sthsQg as i!^>«^akest link. Tins in manv 

 cases tb>A,i\ is J* antit|u.ited bridge built 

 in the horstsand nurgy d.iys .ind incap- 

 able ot carrviruTHtucS^^ and buses that 

 weigh as much as twx<itv tons when 

 loaded. 



'1 lie modern philosophy of rtvd buiKI- 

 id miles of im- 

 are ot lil>k; value if 

 farmers are confined within a few miles 

 radius 'of their farms because thev liire 

 not venture across bridges that might 

 coj lapse under a loaded truck. 1 he prob- 

 lem is also a concern of commercial car- 

 riers and particularly school officials, wlu) 

 transport pupils to and from sihool in 

 larce buses. 



21 



ing recognizes that nil les : 

 proved fiighwavs are of 



