ROADS AND STREETS 



5032 



ROADS AND STREETS 



ent. Scenic effects are considered. A slight 

 deviation that will include a commanding view 

 is advisable, and the value of roadway trees 

 is also recognized. All such accessories have 

 an influence that is helpful to the community. 



The greatest care should be bestowed on 

 drainage ditches, necessary culverts and sur- 

 face conditions. With a mileage so enormous 

 as in the United States and Canada, it is mani- 

 fest that for many years the larger part of the 

 roads will be dirt roads; but that does not 

 mean they cannot be improved. Engineers are 

 studying every phase of the problem. Every- 

 where important trunk lines, the true high- 

 ways, are receiving special attention; particu- 

 larly good roads of this nature exist in South- 

 era New England, in New York, Indiana and 

 Ohio. 



Results Already Accomplished. Steady prog- 

 ress is being made, both in the United States 

 and Canada. For many years the improve- 

 ment of country roads was left in the hands of 

 the local communities, the county, the town or 

 township, and the village. The road tax was 

 often "worked out" by farmers and others who 

 owned horses. Road making was regarded as 

 something anybody could do; it was not con- 

 sidered as an exact science. It was not until 

 after 1890 that the interest of the community 

 at large in good roads began to be recognized. 

 Before 1900 Massachusetts, New Jersey and 

 several other states had constructed the first 

 state roads. Since then about two-thirds of the 

 states and several of the Canadian provinces 

 have built roads or contributed a part of the 

 cost. It is customary, though by no means 

 a fixed rule, for the county to contribute one- 

 half of the expense, leaving the other half to be 

 appropriated by the state or province. 



Still more recently many people have urged 

 the national government to undertake the con- 

 struction and maintenance of roads, on the 

 ground that good roads, outside of thickly- 

 settled communities, are a national problem. 

 As early as 1893 the Congress of the United 

 States established a bureau of public roads as 

 a branch of the Department of Agriculture, 

 and this bureau has been of great service, 

 chiefly by building model roads in various 

 parts of the country. Each year it sends out 

 a "good roads' train," carrying the latest road- 

 making machinery. At frequent intervals the 

 engineers in charge construct short pieces of 

 road, giving the local authorities an object- 

 lesson in road making. In the national parks, 

 such as the Yellowstone and the Yosemite, the 



government has maintained excellent roads, and 

 it has from time to time made small appropri- 

 ations to assist the states. In 1913 Congress 

 appropriated $500,000 to be spent in cooperation 

 with the states for the improvement of post 

 roads, and early in 1914 a start was made on 

 a new policy by a law appropriating $25,000,000 

 a year to be divided among the states, each 

 state's allotment being available only on con- 

 dition that it appropriate an amount equal to 

 that received by it. 



This appropriation, -large as it is, is only a 

 beginning of the solution of the problem. 

 One of the leading advocates of good roads 

 once drew up a plan for a comprehensive na- 

 tional system, to be built and maintained by 

 the United States government. Investigation 

 showed that the initial cost would be about 

 $650,000,000, and the yearly expense of main- 

 tenance about $90,000,000, a cost which was 

 considered prohibitive. It costs each year 

 about $600,000,000 to carry the products of 

 farms to market in the United States alone. 

 If this annual cost could be reduced by one- 

 fourth, or $150,000,000, - the construction of a 

 comprehensive road system would be a pay- 

 ing investment, provided the annual expense 

 and interest charge were less than $150,000,000. 

 This is within the range of possibility. 



As yet, perhaps, the most conspicuous results 

 of the good roads movement are the plans for 

 national and international highways. One of 

 these, the Meridian Road, is to extend south- 

 ward from, Winnipeg to the Gulf of Mexico. 

 The Dixie Highway, farther east, is to extend 

 from the Great Lakes to the Gulf of Mexico, 

 and the Lincoln Highway is to extend from the 

 Atlantic to the Pacific. The National Parks 

 Highway is projected between Chicago and the 

 Pacific coast, through the states bordering on 

 Canada. Besides the American Highway As- 

 sociation, organized in 1910, there are about 

 700 local associations, all interested in road im- 

 provements. As an evidence of the scientific 

 character of the study now being made of the 

 problem, it is interesting to note that about 

 seventy colleges and universities offer instruc- 

 tion in highway engineering. W.F.Z. 



Consult Gillette's Economics of Road Construc- 

 tion; Morrison's Highway Engineering; Judson's 

 City Roads and Pavements. 



Related Subjects. The following articles in 

 these volumes may be consulted in connection 

 with this discussion of roads and streets: 



Asphalt 



Cumberland Road 

 Dixie Highway 



Highway 

 Lincoln Highway 



