CHAPTER X 



COMMUNICATION AND TRANSPORTATION 

 THE FUTURE OF GOOD ROADS IN STATE AND NATION 1 



EDWIN A. STEVENS 



IN no country has the growth of the highway problem in im- 

 portance and in difficulties been greater than in the United States, 

 and in none does it seem likely to -be greater in the future. Our 

 motor- vehicle registry is already the largest in the world. 



The effect of these industrial phenomena on our roads is 

 worthy of most careful thought. The problem in its most simple 

 and general statement is one of transportation. The cost of 

 transporting one ton a mile at any given speed will divide itself 

 naturally into two parts : first, the cost of providing and running 

 the vehicle, in-eluding up-keep, fuel, and lubricants ; second, the 

 cost of providing and maintaining the roadway in such shape 

 that the sum of both parts of the cost of transportation shall be 

 a minimum. The latter is the special province of highway ad- 

 ministration. To discharge this duty, provision must be made 

 for the future traffic. 



To do this intelligently we must form some idea of the traffic 

 of to-day and of its past growth. The horse-drawn traffic is prac- 

 tically unknown ; it will probably not show any material increase, 

 though, in the minds of many authorities, it is not likely to de- 

 crease. It is also less trying on our road surfaces. The following 

 statistics as to automobile registration in ten States that have 

 undertaken the systematic improvement of their roads affords 

 us a means of foretelling what is to be expected within the next 

 few years for the nation : 



i Adapted from Berliner's magazine 59: 181-190, Feb., 1916, copyright, 

 1916, by Charles Scribner's Sons. 



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