MICHIGAN ROADS AND FORESTS 



5 



NATIONAL GOOD ROADS MEETING. 



The National Good Roads Convention, held 

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

 successful yet held. The papers read di- 

 :ussed every phase of road building, from the 

 imely applications of the "split-log drag" on 

 .he dirt road to the construction of macadam, 

 concrete and other permanent highways. 



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

 xr of the National Convention committee 

 ind chairman of the Executive committee of 

 :he A. A. A., declared. "Eighty millions of 

 lollars are now spent en temporary work 

 ,n United States reads yearly. This is for 

 litching. grading and such work, none perma- 

 icnt. We will propose to put all roads, not 

 -illy main highways, but all roads under the 

 State Highway Commissioners, and minimize 

 :he cost of temporary work to $20,000,000. 



"The $60,000,000 saved should be expended 

 n vyidening thoroughfares, building bridges, 

 rutting down excessive grades and other per- 

 manent wi-rk. The improvements would be 

 :ally extended from the main trunk lines 

 -, include all ilirt roads." 



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

 if the foremost gcod roads experts in the 



ry, said: 



"Every main road should by legislation be 



nade a three-division road. The traffic must 



.\ided iiitu three parts. The auto should 



;ave the center. The teams traveling in one 



lirectioii .-hculd be on the motorist's left, and 



e in the i pposite direction should be en 



nis right. 



"In addition, there must be stringent regu- 

 lations governing rnad traffic as much as rail- 

 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 should 

 be made guilty of a misdemeanor and subject 

 mprisiiiiment. Reckless driving of the 

 burse is as open to censure as reckless driving 

 of the mr.tor car." 



The safety on the highway also demanded 

 the carrying "i li.yhts at night on all wagons, 

 it was declared. Every vehicle traveling a 

 public mad 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 roads came in for 

 a lively discu.->sicn. State officials and college 

 profesM>i> heatedly argued the merits and de- 

 merits cf the system prevalent in the south. 

 The psychological, political, sociological and 



iiiical side:, were gone over. 

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

 on good roads as a means of internal defense 

 i unes of war. The speaker has studied 

 oads of Ireland, England, the continent, 

 ico, Panama, and the United States, he 

 declared, and found those of this country in 

 lall cases superior in construction. 



How tlie good roads movement, the con- 



the school system and moving 



iires are combined in Texas, was explained 



(,eorge R. Carter, of Marlin, that state. 



commercial bodies of the Texas cities 



nize scheduled teurs for a half dozen or 



nore motors cars through a radius of thirty 



miles of their cities. The tourists carry a 



:omplete moving picture show with thousands 



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



:aking scenes along the public highways 



ilso showing methods of making good high 



oads, and comparisons with the unimproved 



nud roads. The little talk about good roads 



s slipped in between films and general edu- 



|:ation and spread of the movement results. 



The problem of concentrating the many 



small schools into graded ward schools has 



ilso been solved. We went to the farmers 



ind asked them if they did not want their 



hildren to have a better education than they 



lad had. All answered yes. Well, we told 



hem to help us vote, build and keep good 



oads and we would help them put good, 



graded schools at main road corners, where 



.hey could easily be reached over the roads 



Preserves Roads 



Prevents 



Boston's Experience with Tarvia. 



In the Municipal Journal & Engineer of June 

 1 5th, 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 

 we^t from old Boston in the Brighton district. 

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

 quire! 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. 



'* On one street which was reconstructed accord- 

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

 prictically 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 

 vHl through the base, forming a good tar concrete. 

 Th- 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 61 cents per square yard a sum no 

 greater than 'would be paid for the old style plain 

 macadam. The reason for this is not apparent at 

 sight, but is explained by Division Superintendent 

 F. M. McCarthy, as follows : 



"The tar macadam saves about 1 inches of screen- 

 ings and heavy labor and equipment expenses for 

 watering and rolling. This, 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 is cheaper to maintain a dustless 

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



Booklets on request. 



BARRETT MANUFACTURING COMPANY, 



NPW York. 

 St. Loui ., 



Chicago, Philadelphia. Boston. Cleveland. Cincinnati. 

 Kansas City. Pittsburg. Minneapolis. New Orleans. 



we would build together. Now we have good 

 roads 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 Barry 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. 



