you'd hate to meet this bread truth on a narrow country road If 

 you valued your life. Yet roads this narrow are common through- 

 out Illinois. 



I 



\ 



Crossing a weak looking bridge like this makes 

 breath and heave a sigh of relief once you hove 

 falling through. 



you hold your 

 crossed without 



More Money Needed For Roads 



IS 



HF lAA Hoad Study (iomniiltfe in 

 its iiivestigalion and stiid\ ol rural 

 road proldi'iii- found many tacts 

 ■ V and iigures to sul>s(aiitiate its rcc- 

 oniniptidalion that more money 

 must lie raised if Illinois is to liave an 

 a<lei|uale system of all ueatlier liisili- 

 \xa\s. . . 



'hie comn)iltee eoiisulted, \\ itii out- 

 slandinc hitdiuav eni:ineers. Iiiuliway 

 olfieiais. and men (iua4ilieil liy training 

 and experience to present im|)ortant 

 jdiascs or the hisilnvay system. Town- 

 sliip eomkiissioners and men from the 

 Itiixersity of Illinois (lollege of Kiiui- 

 luerinjr. Slate Hij;luvay Department, 

 and (!ountv Hijiliuav Departments ap- 

 peared liefore the uroup. 



Althoutrh memhers of the study 

 j.'roup were interested primarily in rural 

 roads, the solution of proldems pertain- 

 iriLT to these roads and their rclationshi]) 

 to those of llie state, the county, and the 

 eitv streets', coidd !)e considered oidy 

 after a study of the prolp|em> facititr 

 each of the othi'r parts of the entire 

 hiiihway svstem. Because thev lielieve 

 that the economy of the slate depends to 

 a creat extent upon a complete system 

 of highways. 



According to the Illinois State Iligh- 

 uav ronm)is>ion total mileage of the 

 hiidnvav svstem i< 121. K!") mile-. Mile- 

 age of each di\i-ion \\ilh the mimher of 

 mites deficient for j>resent needs is as 

 follows: the primary or hard road sys- 

 tem contains 12.2''>0 miles of which 6.- 

 2''>1 miles are deficient now: the state- 

 aid or eountv svstem has l!',.!)2l miles 

 with 11.16'^ miles deficient: the rural 



road s\slcm contains T.^..'!.-!'! miles with 

 .56.1(10 miles deficient and of this mile- 

 age 10.rp21 miles are unimproved earth: 

 the city street svstem consists of 17.772 

 miles with 11.20.5 miles deficient. 



The cost of correcting the total de- 

 ficiencies of the entire svstem is esti- 

 mated to he .?6.,".02.201.(i:'.;;. This huge 

 <\iu\ is given not as an amount which is 

 thought can he rai><'d hut to point out 

 lli(> jact that a <i/eaMe ta-^k is ahead of 

 tiic people of Illinois if thev are to have 

 adequate highway transportation in the 

 years ahead. 



Sinc<' the major solution of the roail 

 j)r(>Mems lies in lack of sufficient reve- 

 nue, the lAA Road Committee suggeste<l 

 that some o( the money needed on the 

 roads could he had through economies. 

 One suggestion included consolidation 

 of existing road districts into larger 

 units hy referendum upon petition. Hut 

 »-e\en with the greatest ecotumiv thus 



h.ililor's Ao/c- This arlirlr iin.-i uril/cii 

 l/clorf lite I A I annual nnflinu.. liy llw 

 tinir van rcdil il. l ntiriii ili'lf^alcs to ihr 

 Illinois liiririillural tssocialion annual 

 ntiTlinii uill hair aclcil upon ihc lit 

 Road S/atly Committee Report. Their 

 action uill he refior/ed in the January 

 issue of the Rl.( ORD. It is evident. 

 Iiouetir. jrom rcas(}ns set jortli in this 

 article that more funds will he needed 

 to improve Illinois roads. 



elTecled. more money would have to he 

 raised to get the joh done. The Hoad 

 Ccjmmitlce was of the opinion that the 

 most e(piital)Ie method of raising the 

 additional funds was by increasing the 

 tax on gasoline because this money 

 woidd come from tliose who used the 

 road- and would recei\e the greatest 

 benefits therefrom. In view of the large 

 amount of deficii'iit highways and the 

 cost thereof, the committee liclieves that 

 it will he necessary to raise the state 

 gasoline tax to get the job done. 



The present tax of three cents per 

 gallon on nasoline produced a net of 

 over .?51. 000.000 in 19 If,. This .sum is 

 allocated to three parts of the highway 

 system with the [irimary or hard road 

 system receiving on("-third. the county 

 or state-aid system one-third, and the 

 city or municipal street .system one- 

 third. The rural road system receives 

 no part of the ])resent tax. It did re- 

 ceive appropriations totaling $.'^0,000.- 

 000 over a four year period. July 1 9 1.5 

 to June 1010. 



Money raised from present taxes is 

 not adequate to meet /Icmands made 

 upon the roads. Road construction, re- 

 construction or resurfacing, and main- 

 tenance is a continuous process. A 

 hjghwav begins to deteriorate inunedi- 

 atelv after colistruction through the use 

 that is made of it. Heavy traffic means 

 faster deterioration. Traffic is on the 

 increase oft" all parts of the highway 

 system. 



The.se facts convinced the Koad Study 

 Committee that it would take a higher 

 ^Ciiniiniietl on piigi 22) 



18 



I. A. A. RECORD 



DEC 



