Uty 



We're Back 

 In The Mud 



Defeat of Gas Tax Increase Leaves 

 Rural Roads Without State Aid 



By PAUL E. MATHIAS, Secretary 

 Illinois Agricultural Association 



THE Illinois Agricultural Association was one of the 

 principal proponents of the bill in the recent session of 

 the legislature to increase the gasoline tax from 3c to 5c 

 per gallon. The Association is convinced that the in- 

 creased revenues are necessary to rebuild and maintain 

 our Illinois highway system. The Illinois highway system 

 has deteriorated and thousands of miles must be rebuilt or 

 repaired. 



TTie Illinois Highway and Traffic Problems Commission 

 after a detailed study found that of the total of 10,460 miles 

 of state highways, 2,380 miles were in need of immediate 

 improvement and had no effective service life whatever re- 

 maining. More than one-half of our present state highway 

 system is deficient. 



Of the more than 18,000 miles of county roads, the Com- 

 mission reported that 11,462 miles, or 62.5 per cent, were in 

 need of immediate improvement and more than three-fourths 

 of the county system is deficient. Of the more than 75,000 

 miles of local township and road district roads. 44,400 miles 

 were found to be currently deficient and an additional 11,760 

 miles of these local roads have a remaining service life of 

 from one to ten years. 



There are a number of reasons for the deterioration of 

 our highways. More than one-third of our state highways 

 are more than 25 years old. With ordinary use, many of 

 them would be obsolete and in need of reconstruction. How- 

 ever, these roads have been subjected to gross weights far in 

 excess of the maximum weights for which they were designed. 



Almost half of our state highway mileage was built at 

 a time when the maximum gross vehicle load was 40,000 

 pounds. Gross weight limits have been increased to 18,000 

 pounds per axle and to 72,000 pounds overall. Even with 

 these limits, checks made by the highway authorities indicate 

 that almost one-fourth of the truck and trailer type vehicles 

 have been overloaded. Until recent months no serious, 

 sustained effort has been made to enforce the weight limits. 

 Commercial interests have been permitted to carry gross 

 overloads and to destroy our svstem of state highways con- 

 structed at public expense. 



Construction costs are greater too. Due to the general 

 increase in the price level, it would cost from two-thirds to 

 three-fourths more to construct the same type of road today 

 than during the early 1920s. Due to the higher construction 

 standards necessary to carry the much heavier weights, costs 

 are even further increased. Also to provide greater safety, 

 many of the roads are now 22 feet for a double lane pave- 

 ment rather than the 18 feet or less, in width, of the earlier 

 roads. 



Illinois taxpayers must provide the funds necessary to 

 rebuild and maintain our highways. While there is federal 

 aid for highways, the federal aid is not a large percentage 

 of our total need. The Illinois Agricultural .Association 

 believes that highway users should in large part provide 

 these state funds. All highway users must contribute. The 

 increased gasoline tax seems to provide a fair apportionment 

 of this cost among highway users. 



The Illinois Agricultural Association favored the alloca- 

 tion of gasoline tax funds thus: 37 1/2 percent to the state, 

 25 percent to counties, 25 percent to cities, and 12 1/2 percent 

 to local roads. The present tax of 3c, of course, is dis- 

 tributed one-third to the state, one-third to the counties, and 

 one-third to the cities. 



The state needs substantially increased revenues to pro- 

 vide for the heavy costs of rebuilding, repairing and main- 

 taining the roads and bridges of our primary system. Coun- 

 ties and cities too need additional revenue to meet increased 

 construction costs. Townships and road districts, with 75,853 

 miles of the 104.634 miles of roads outside cities in the state, 

 certainly are entitled to 12 1/2 per cent of gasoline tax 

 revenues. Local property taxes should provide a portion of 

 the funds for building and maintaining these roads but local 

 property taxes for this purpose are already very heavy. In 

 1945 the townships and road districts, with approximately 

 only one-fourth the total assessed valuation of the state, 

 levied $11,085,649 for road purposes (they also issued about 

 $6,000,000 in highway bonds). In that year counties with 

 four times greater assessed valuation levied $5,944,296 for 

 road and bridge purposes and cities levied $6,869,101 for 

 streets. Local road and bridge taxes cannot be increased to 

 provide the funds necessary for these roads. 



The state should contribute to the cost of building and 

 maintaining local roads. These local roads serve all interests 

 of the state and not merely farm people. The consumer of 

 dairy products, livestock or grain is interested along with 

 the farmer in the rapid and economical transportation of 

 farm products. The public generally and not merely the 

 farmer is interested in roads for school bus and mail routes. 

 The allocation of a portion of the gasoline tax for these roads 

 would provide a permanent source of revenue and make 

 possible a long-range program of improvement of these 

 local roads. 



(Continued on page 25) 



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I. A. A. RECORD 



