MICHIGAN ROADS AND FORESTS 



NATIONAL GOOD ROADS MEETING. 



The National Good Roads Convention, held 

 at St. Louis last month, was one of the most 

 successful yet held. The papers read dis- 

 cussed every phase of road building, from the 

 timely applications of the "split-log drag" on 

 the dirt road to the construction of macadam, 

 concrete and other permanent highways. 



A. G. Batchelder, of New York city, mem- 

 ber of the National Convention committee 

 and chairman of the Executive committee of 

 \. A. A., declared. "Eighty millions of 

 dollars are now spent i n temporary work 

 on United States reads yearly. This is lor 

 ditching, grading and such u .rk. none perma- 

 nent. We will propose to put all roads, not 

 only main highways, but all roads under the 

 State Highway Commissioners, and mininmc 

 the cost of temporary work to $20,000,000. 



"The $60,000.000 saved should be expended 

 in widening thoroughfares, building bridges, 

 cutting down excessive grades and other per- 

 manent work. The improvements would be 

 gradually extended from the main trunk lines 

 to include all dirt reads." 



Char'es D. Ross, of Xewton. Mass., one 

 i >f the foremost gcod reads experts in the 

 ivuntry. said: 



"Every main road should by legislation be 

 a three-division road. The traffic must 

 be divided into three parts. The auto should 

 have the center. The teams traveling in cue 

 direction shculd be on the motorist's left, and 

 those in the opposite direction should be en 

 his right. 



"In addition, there must be stringent regu- 

 lations governing road traffic as much as rail- 

 road traffic. Public safety demands this since 

 the advent and the increase of the faster 

 motor-driven vehicle. Teamsters who con- 

 gregate on wagons and permit following 

 teams to straggle at will in their rear shr.uM 

 be made guilty < f a misdemeanor and subject 

 to imprisonment. Reckless driving of the 

 horse is as open to censure as reckless driving 

 of the motor car." 



The safety on the highway also demanded 

 the carrying of lights at night on all wagons, 

 it was declared. Every vehicle traveling a 

 public road should be made to show front 

 lights, at least, he assured the delegates, 

 whether they be light road wagons, heavy 

 traffic-carrying trucks or carriages. 



Convict labor on public reads came in for 

 a lively discussion. State officials and college 

 professor 3 heatedly argued the merits and de- 

 merits of the system prevalent in the south. 

 The psychological, political, sociological and 

 economical sides were gone over. 



Bernard Ad.er, of St. James, Mo., talked 

 on good roads as a means of internal defense 

 in times of war. The speaker has studied 

 the roads of Ireland, England, the continent, 

 Mexico, Panama, and the United States, he 

 declared, and found those of this country in 

 all cases superior in construction. 



Hew the good roads movement, the con- 

 centration of the school system and moving 

 pictures are combined in Texas, was explained 

 by George R. Carter, of Marlin. that state. 

 The commercial bodies of the Texas cities 

 organize scheduled tours for a half dozen or 

 more meters cars through a radius of thirty 

 miles of their cities. The tourists carry a 

 complete moving picture show with thousands 

 of feet of films, depicting hair-raising, breath- 

 taking scenes along the public highways 

 also showing methods of making good high 

 roads, and comparisons with the unimproved 

 mud roads. The little talk about good roads 

 is slipped in between films and general edu- 

 cation and spread of the movement results. 



The problem of concentrating the many 

 small schools into graded ward schools has 

 also been solved. We went to the farmers 

 and asked them if they did not want their 

 children to have a better education than they 

 had had. All answered yes. Well, we told 

 them to help us vote, build and keep good 

 roads and we would help them put good, 

 graded schools at main road corners, where 

 they could easily be reached over the roads 





Preserves Roads 



Prevents 



Boston's Experience with Tarvia. 



In the Municipal Journal & Engineer of June 

 I jth, one instance of the work of the Street 

 Department of Boston is reported as follows : 



" The most thorough and expensive construction 

 now in use is the two-coat tar work in connection 

 wi:h a practical rebuilding of the street. Such a 

 piece of work is now going on in the main road 

 rrom old Boston in the Brighton district. 

 This is a road, which under old conditions, re- 

 quirrl extensive resurfacing amounting to recon- 

 struction every fifth year, 



"Tarvia X was used, and the quantity was one 

 and one-half gallon to the square yard. 



1 * On one street which was reconstructed accord- 

 ing to this system hst year, the surface is now in 

 pricrically perfect condition, well closed up with 

 fine stone and not noticeably friable or dusty. An 

 open trench in the street gave an opportunity to 

 examine the structure. The tar was distributed 

 well through the base, forming a good tar concrete. 

 The finer material at the surface was hardly as 

 thick and solid as in the bitulithic pavement but the 



general appearance of the surface is the same and 

 it is watertight. 



"As to cost of construction, the section laid 

 last year cost 6 1 cents per square yard a mm no 

 greater than -would be paid for the old style plain 

 macadam. The reason for this b not apparent at 

 sight, but is explained by Division Superintendent 

 F. M. McCarthy, as follows : 



"The tar macadam saves about 2 inches of screen- 

 ings and heavy labor and equipment expenses for 

 watering and rolling. Thb, the superintendent 

 figures, amounts to just about the cost of 2 gallons 

 tar or 1 6 cents. The tar macadam, judging by appear- 

 ances, and in view of the general experience with 

 bituminous construction, is the more durable road. ' ' 



Notice that " the most thorough and expensive " 

 Tarvia construction costs "a sum no greater than 

 would be paid for the old style plain macadam.*' 



We repeat what we have often said before, 

 namely, that it b cheaper to maintain a d useless 

 road wi:h Tarvia, than a dusty one without it. 



Booklets on request. 



BARRETT MANUFACTURING COMPANY, 



New Yo-k. 

 St. Loui.. 



Chicago. Philadelphia. Boston. Cleveland. Cincinnati. 

 Kansas City. Pittsburg. Minneapolis. New Orleans. 



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we would build together. Now we have good 

 reads and good schools." 



The Goods Roads Association has a mem- 

 bership of 1.000,000, with a membership of 

 3,100,000 in allied organizations, among which 

 is the American Automobile Association. Its 

 roster carries the names of all classes farm- 

 ers, motorists, bankers, business men and 

 statesmen. 



BARRY HAS GOOD ROADS ASSOCIA- 

 TION. 



The Good Roads Association of Barn- county 

 was organized at Nashville recently with the fol- 

 lowing officers : 



Van W. Furniss, president ; F. J. Feighner, 

 vice president; B. B. Downing, secretary; J. B. 

 Marshall, treasurer. The other members of the 



executive committee are A. D. Wolf of Maple 

 Grove, John Andrews of Kalamo, Luther Moore 

 of Vermontville, Philip Garlinger of Castleton, 

 and H. A. Offley of Nashville. 



Every one of them is a hustler, and the organ- 

 ization is bound to be a power in furthering the 

 building of good roads in Barry county. State 

 Highway Commissioner Ely made a stirring ad- 

 dress before the new association. Among other 

 things, he said that there was no use of trying to 

 build stone roads at a less cost than $4,000 per 

 mile, and believed it better to build more miles 

 of gravel roads than tackle stone roads. The 

 requirements of the state law are for a roadway 

 18 feet in width, but the commissioner thinks that 

 is too narrow and said that a good country road 

 ought to be not less than 22 feet in width, in 

 which the large majority of the audience seemed 

 to concur. 



