The Worcester spy. [volume] (Worcester, Mass.) 1898-1904, 1899-06-22
WORCESTER,S STATE ROADS.

The amount of money to be expended
by the state highway commission in
Worcester county, this year, is given
as $S3,S72, which is moro than double
the amount apportioned to any other
county save Middlesex, which gets
$56,5OO. Moreover, the number of Wor-
cester towns to be benefited is more
than twice the number in any other
county The total award for the state
is S446,002. Like every other commits
sion, or public institution for that mat
ter, the highway commission has been
accused of favoritism and various other
offences, but there are reasons enough
to account for the pre-eminence of Wor-
cester county in the development of
state highways, without accusing the
commission of partiality
First of all is the fact that Worcester
county ranks fourth in the state in
point of population. Only Suffolk Mid
dleseX and Essex are larger. AS Suffolk
county includes only two towns, Revere
and winthrop, and as the cities of Bos-
ton and Chelsea may be assumed to be
able to take care of their own high
ways, that county may be ruled out Of
the competition. Essex county and a
portion of Middlesex could boast of a
creditable stretch of good roads before
the state took up the movement, and
consequently the local necessities were
less urgent and the motives for appeal
ing to the state less active than in Wor-
cester.
Furthermore, this county is also the
fourth richest in the state That is an
important consideration, for although
the commonwealth pays the original
expense of construction and the cost Of
maintenance of the roadway within the
sidewalk lines, one quarter of the ex-
pense Of construction is to be ultimately
assessed upon the county and repaid
within six years. Hence the richer the
county the greater its eagerness for
state roads may naturally be. Add to
this the enterprise of the people, and it
would appear that there are reasons
enough to explain why the largest num-
Der of petitioners should come from
Worcester county and why a prepon-
derance of the state appropriation
should be granted.
That the state roads are warmly ap-
preciated by the people who drive or
who ride bicycles need not be said.
That the boon is also valued by the
townspeople at large is not always so
clear. How far the obligation to keep
the state roads reasonably free of snow
and ice is respected can best be told by
those who travel over them in winter.
But the injunction do not drive in the
middle of the road" is commonly treat
ed with that disregard which is apt to
be the habit of people who imagine that
they themselves will not be called upon
to pay Tor the wear and tear. The local
authorities are empowered to make
necessary or emergency repairs of state
highways without explicit consent of
the state commission, but it does not
appear that this power is always liz
terpretcd as broadly as the condition
VI bhN IodAS anu tilE 6OOu u the pubic
require.
Of what practical value the state road
has been as an object lesson and a slim
illus for the making of better town
roads, it is perhaps too early to in
quire. The commission has been
in existence only since 1898 and a half
decade is not enough to accomplish a
revolution. The natural tendency
would be to excite popular desire for
an extension of the good roads; but.
on the other hand, it might be expected
that those who have the management
of town and county finances would rest
content with being relieved by the
state of portion of the highway ex-
penses, and credit themselves with a
smart stroke of economy instead of ap-
plying the saving to the betterment of
other roads. In community such as
this, however, the popular will must
in the end prevail.