Listening to Earl C. Smith, (wearing coat) Pilce county, former right: Emery Irwin, Petersburg; Ed Niehaus, Butler; Robert Schu- 

 lAA president, discuss the Illinois road situation at the lAA offices bert, Mt. Carroll; Virgil Milner, Fairfield; Ronald Holt, Galvo; and 

 in Chicago before the lAA's Road Survey Committee are, left to Committee Chairman K. T. Smith, Greenfield. 



lAA SUR\ EV COiMMITTEE 



!?. Sfc.i 



iliialvzes Illinois Rural Road Problem 



lAA EX-PRESIDENT EARL C. SMITH TELLS GROUP PROBLEMS ARE "MANY AND PERPLEXING" 



IMPROVr.MrNT of Illinois Lirm 

 roads will he no cisv task, F.arl C 

 -Smith ot Adams county, lormcr 

 president of the Illinois Atrrieul- 

 tiiral Association, told a i;roiip ol 

 farmers in Chicatzo recently. 



1 lie t:roup was tiie lAA Road Sur\ey 

 ( ominittee, recently a[^ponited to make 

 a detailed study ot the rural road situa- 

 tion. The committee will make recom- 

 mendations to the lAA hoard of direc- 

 tors hased on its findings. 



Two of tlie first speakers to appear 

 hetore the coinmitttee were loriner 

 President Smith and Prof. Ellis Danner 

 ot the Uni\ersity ot Illinois (olleije ot 

 I:ni;ineerini,'. 



Too many of us," Smith said," ex- 

 pect i;ood roads tomorrow. The lAA 

 has loiii: been interested in road im- 

 pro\ement. But rural road prohlems 

 are many and perplexing. And solu- 

 tions for these prohlems are ditficult 

 to find." 



Smith explained that farmers hacked 

 the hond issues for Illinois' primary 

 NVStem of hard roads. When these 

 laws were pa.ssed; he continued, rural 

 people were told thev would receive 

 help from the state in constructing and 

 maintaining access roads once the pri- 

 mary system was huilt. 



Today, more than half the road dis- 

 trict roads. Smith said, are still priini- 

 ti\e dirt. There are thousands ot un- 

 safe hrid_t;e\ in need of immediate .it- 

 teiition. Smith told the 2()-man com- 

 mittee the most serious prohlem to he 

 faced is that of revenue. The state 



primary road system is in a critical 

 condition. The secondary system is 

 in need ot extensive repair. 



The state hi^'hway department, the 

 counties, and the cities each are ask- 

 ing for at least one hillion dollars. 

 NX'here does the farm-to-hitjhway road 

 tit into the picture.' Rehuildini; primary 

 and secondary roads and the providing 

 of all weather roads in road districts 

 probably will call for a 2()-year program. 



Smith called upon the committee to 

 present the facts, then demand satisfac- 

 tion. The stock ari;ument, he said, 

 .i,t,'ainst the use of motor fuel funds 

 on tarm roads has been that they hear 

 such a small portion of the traffic. 

 Counts show more traffic on these 

 roads than was thoutiht. Smith said. 



'The overall prohlem, ' Smith con- 

 cluded, "is enormous. But the farmers 

 of Illinois must stand ready to offer 

 constructive suggestions. " 



Professor Danner discussed some of 

 the engineerint; aspects on the need 

 for research on the construction and 

 maintenance of farm roads. He pointed 

 out that the type of topography, cli- 

 mate, and traffic, as well as other fac- 

 tors must be considered hefore satis- 

 factory roads can he economically sup- 

 ported in any road district. He said 

 that many of the present road failures 

 are due to frost and heavy truck traffic. 



He told the committee that ^(K) ve- 

 hicles a day will cause a good gravel 

 road to become unpassable in a short 

 time. One thousand vehicles a day 

 will cause the same condition on the 



thin hiack top roads. 



Professor Danner pointed out that 

 one ot the biggest steps forward in 

 the improvement in road district roads 

 would be the reorganization of many 

 small districts into larger road districts. 



Danner pointed out also that al- 

 though a great deal of research has 

 been done on hard road problems prac- 

 tically none has been done on farm 

 roads. Industry, he said, puts enormous 

 sums into solving their ditticulties by 

 research. He said, however, that no 

 money was available to the college of 

 engineering for study of farm roads. 



Some of the problems, studied at least 

 in part by the committee so far, arc: 1. 

 C^ontinued state grants for farm-to-high- 

 way roads. 2. Reorganization of small 

 township road districts into larger 

 units. 3. Construction, rec|uired right- 

 of-ways, administration, finance, and 

 maintenance of primary, secondary, and 

 township roads, -i. Current abuse and 

 violation of the refund provision of 

 the motor fuel tax law. 5. 'VC'eights, 

 lengths, and speed of trucks and huses 

 on Illinois highways. 6. Present and 

 future legislation concerning farm-to- 

 highway roads. 



Most farmers are agreed on the need 

 for a long-range continuous program 

 for farm roads financed in part by state 

 money. Local property taxes finance 

 "^ per cent of the road mileage in 

 Illinois' present farm-to-highway roads, 

 I'armers look to the road committee to 

 ix)int the way to a better country road 

 system at a reasonable price. 



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I. A. A. RECORD 



