AORICULTUKAL Al'l'llOI'HIATION HILU l'-**. 361 



MATRRIALM UHKD IN ROAU COMITMI tTION . 



Mr. MacDonai.h. 1 may say. Mr. ('Iiairiimii, ihnt wp have a gn^al 

 many iiiilos (tf gravel and inaradain roads ir> tlip variotiA StiiloM that 

 art' sudicicnlly .strong; to carry tliis |)ri'srr>t trnflir, |»tii ihr ^rpat««t 

 (lett'rioraliou, as you su«jj^('st, is tho ravcliiii; and sul)sp<|iirnt low of 

 mttterial from tfie surtarc; particularly nurinj; drj' soa-soriH. In 

 some nlaccs, a toj) of hiltiminous material i.s Ix'inj; used sii<-<'t»ssfully 

 over tlu' old j^ravol or macadam road. 



Mr. Andkkso.n. That pntduccs a n)ugh surfa'-c when it hiyitm to 

 hroak up, doesn't it i 



Mr. Ma( Donald. You are sneaking of the odc<l gravel road-., I 

 believe. Tlie oiling of gravel has generally not proven successful. 

 As soon as the surface begins to ravel, it be<-omes very rough. I 

 referred to the practice of laving down an inch and a half, two inche«. 

 sometimes four inches of l)ituminous material on old compa'tcfj 

 gravel or macadam roadways. However, it is doubtfid if wc wUl be 

 able to use that construction in the northern States where there is 

 much moisture and frost. In Texas, and in some of the southern 

 ami southwestern States such as Arizona, where tliere is no d»'cp 

 freezing, combined with a great deal of moisture in the grourul, that 

 type of construction is preserving old gravel and macadam roa«ls at 

 a very reasonable cost as compared with the cost of the modern 

 paverf highways. 



That. 1 may sa}-. is one of the objectives that we are continually 

 striving for. the building of cheaper types of roads that will economi- 

 cally yet successfully carry the traffic. 



^ir. BrcHAXAN. Well, don't you think that the sooner we come to 

 concrete as a base of public roads, the better for the .States, counties, 

 and Federal Government, and that these (three) other types of roads 

 never last half the length of the life of the bonds that are issued, and 

 that in case of bond issues for construction, that any road that does 

 not last for tlie life of the bond, is a failure ? 



Mr. MacDonald. But there is a great di.screpancv now existing 

 between the mileage of improved roads in the several States and the 

 number of automooiles and motor vehicles that are needing to use 

 them. You see, our registration of motor vehicles has passed the 

 ten million mark, and it has only been within the past four years 

 that we have carried on a large program of highway improvement 

 and the task of bringing these roads up to a fit condition for the 

 motor vehicle to use is a tremendous one. To give highway service 

 it has been necessary to recognize the ^reat demand for road mileage. 



Mr. BrciiAXAX. tVell, what is your ideal road; concrete? 



Mr. MacDo.nai.d. No, sir; I do not think that concrete is neces- 

 sarily the ideal road, because I can not disassociate ideal features of 

 road construction frt)m their cost, and if we can get a cheaper typo 

 of road that will serve tlie traffic 



Mr. BiCHA.VA.N (interposing). Let me put the question differently. 

 What would be the best road, regardless of the cost < 



Mr. Anderson". Regardless of the cost ? 



Mr. Buchanan. Yes. 



Mr. Anderson. That is not a fair quevStion. 



Mr. Buchanan. I do not mean an impracticable road or a road 

 being built in a community that is not able to maintain it. or I do 



2202H—22 23 



