The Somerset herald. [volume] (Somerset, Pa.) 1870-1936, 1897-12-22
FOR GOOD ROADS.
The Author Of the Law Passed by the
Last Legislature Lays Blame.
Upon Viewers
FOR sEKsELEss ROUTES OF PUBLIC
HIGHWAYS.

Upon Viewers
FOR sEKsELEss ROUTES OF PUBLIC
HIGHWAYS.
Inasmuch as all reports of road viewers
IN most Of the districts Of the State mu ST
be submitted 70 the courts for inspection
and approval, Deputy Secretary of Agri-
culture John Hamilton has address,
ed personal letter to every Common
Pleas Judge in the State, requesting that
extreme caIS-h-a taken in the selection
of the Board Of Viewers, so that the mis-
takes of the past may no longer be pos
sible. He also suggests that none but
liberal minded, intelligent, public-spirit-
ed citizens be placed upon these boards,
and that the engineer be thoroughly
competent not only 10 run lines upon
the ground, but also to take the levels
and give estimates of cuts and fills, with
probable cost of construction.
DUTIES OF THE BOARD OF VIEWERS.
Mr.. Hamilton recommends that in their
report TO the Court the Board of Viewers
should first of all state their conviction
as 70 whether public necessity demands
such a road; that they should present
with their report a map showing the
courses and distances, and also profile
map showing the contour of the ground,
with the cuts and fills marked and the
degree Of elevation that no road except
in extreme cases. shall have over five de-
grees grade, and, if possible, not over
three degrees; that the right of way shall
be az least 3 feet wide; that all streams
and ravines requiring bridges shall be
properly marked on the map, together
with the location of crossroads, nearby
houses and property lines, through which
the proposed road is to run, and there
shall also be marked on the draft the
character of the soil over which the road
is to be built; that all of the drawings
shall be to a scale, and that there shall
accompany the report the engineers esti-
mate of the probable cost of construction.
Mr.. Hamilton has written to the Judges
in the hope that they may consider his
suggestions and unite in insisting upon
a more careful survey on the part of the
/ viewers Of roads than has heretofore been
required.
ASK ADVICE FROM THE JUDGES.
No report should be approved or con-
firmed until it is entirely clear to the
Court that the road is a public necessity,
and that its location is the best possible
to secure. He states that he will be glad
to hear from the Judges and receive such
criticism and advice rs their experience
and thought upon this subject may
prompt them to offer, particularly As to
whether his suggestions are such as ought
to be put into force; whether additional
legislation would be needed in order to
carry them into effect, and, if so, what
points oaght to be covered by such leg
islatiOn.
The loss and Inconvenience that is
caused by the improper location of many
of our public highways are evident TO
all, Mr.. Hamilton said. "In many in
stances roads are laid out, not on the most
suitable ground, nor upon the shortest or
most practicable route, but upon ground
wholly unsuitable and following a course
both indirect and meaningless. FIRE.
/ qUently the viewers have been induced
% follow the division lines between prop
critics, ard thus have diverted the road
from its proper and natural location in
order to crafty the desire of some indi-
vidual regardless of the rights and needs
Of the travelling public.
vIEwER' To BLAME FOR BAD ROUTES.
Instances of this practice are so COM
mon that it is unnecessary TO go into de-
tail or cite examples in order To prove its
universally, for almost every eommuni-
ty in the Commonwealth can point to
sections in its own locality where slight
change in the location of the road would
have avoided a deep ravine, or an impas-
sable hill, or a devious course, and have
secured direct route and an easy grade.
So manifest are some of these errors that
a child 10 years old, if shown the location,
would, without hesitation, point out the
right position which the road should oc-
cupy, and yet this road was laid out 10y
three selected persons, one of whom was
presumably civil engineer.
The error in all such cases originated
with the Board Of Viewers and was AFTER
ward fixed upon the community, through
out all future time, by order of the Court;
50 that for 100 years tens of thousands of
our citizens have been compelled to suffer
direct loss and much personal inconve-
nience from improper locating of a single
road, TO say nothing of the millions of
others who have had like experience on
the 10O,OO miles Of other roads in Penn
| sylvania, many of them equally defect
/ i've. II is, therefore, of the first import
ance that the work of original survey
and location shall be correctly and wise
| ly done, for experience shows that after
a road has once been opened it is next to
impossible TO have its location changed,
no matter how much the public may be
incOnvenienced or how impracticable it
may be to keep it in even tolerable re-