June 1942] Agricultural Experlment Station 29 



structed or improved 1422 miles of State trunk highway and 2115 of 

 secondary State aid highway. Today approximately only 200 miles 

 of the State aid secondary "orange" system remain unimproved. Of 

 course, the Highway Department will have the continuing task of 

 ceaselessly improving the State's roads which carry the heavy, fast 

 through traffic. Road surfaces must be made stronger, smoother, and 

 \\ ider ; curves and grades must be made more gentle. Nevertheless, 

 \A^ith the completion of the final 200 miles of the present projected 

 secondary "orange" highway system, a new secondary road program 

 for improving rural roads will be launched. First, however, the pat- 

 tern of roads to be improved must be marked out. 



In laying out this new road system, the Highway Department 

 will utilize the modern measures for determining highway routes 

 which the developing science of road projection has devised. Traffic 

 surveys will be conducted to determine the volume, character, weight, 

 origin and destination of traffic. School bus and postal routes will 

 be plotted. Houses, stores, and other structures along the roadside 

 will be mapped."" These criteria are invaluable in determining a pri- 

 mary highway system, whose chief function is to serve through traffic. 

 \et they are not entirely adequate in determining a secondary high- 

 way system. A secondary highway has a dual role. It, too, has the 

 big job of accommodating through traffic. Yet it also makes markets 

 accessible to farmers and opens up recreational areas. Thus, measures 

 for determining through traffic needs are not adequate if used alone. 

 They must be supplemented by data which show the present and 

 future needs of rural dwellers. The economic basis upon which rural 

 road needs rest — the use that can and should be made of the land — 

 must be considered. Furthermore, rural roads, as an institution in- 

 fiuencing economic and social development, must be weighed in deter- 

 mining road patterns. If minute investigations of through traffic 

 needs are considered worth while by highway engineers, then surely 

 land use surveys, as another measurement for determining wise road 

 development, should be carefully made. 



Rural people cannot escape from contributing to the formulation 

 , of the new secondary road policy. If they refrain from acting, they 

 have made their decision to have "a State secondary road program 

 based entirely upon present traffic needs. Thus, they might well take 

 a more positive part in developing a secondary road policy. Most 

 certainly, however, this participation should not be that of particu- 

 laristic pressure groups, working to secure selfish local advantages in 

 secondary road services. The measures for determining road pat- 

 terns which those interested in proper land use develop should be as 

 scientifically objective as those developed by highway engineers. How- 

 ever, the values measured will be dififerent. What are the values 

 which rural people think it is important to the general welfare of the 

 State to preserve? Clearly the great value is the fullest and wisest 

 utilization of the agricultural and recreational resources to the in- 



^" This mapping is now being carried on in the State-wide highway survey, which is cooperativel>' 

 conducted by the State Highway Department and the Public Roads Administration. 



