The suburban citizen., 1900-12-22
God Roads R6tss
S1cs,l.ssss2s
Road building and Road preservInv

Road Building and Road Preserving.
Y" HE agreeable report is cur
rent that an extensive sys.
TEN of good roads viii pres.
emily be constructed in West.
chester County, comprising at least
sixty miles Of macadam. Such work
Is TO be commended anywhere, but il
Is particularly praiseworthy in such
a region as Westchester County. all of
which is suburban and most of which
Is possessed Of singular beauty and of
exceptional attractiveness as a place
OF residence. Despite these latter con.
ditons, that county has in some re.
spects been strangely neglected. Its
railroad facilities have not been ali
they might have been. while its com.
mon roads, with few fine exceptions,
have been little short of a disgrace to
any community within thousand
miles of civilization. The result has
been a serious retardment of its
growth. 1t is safe to say that in the
last twenty or thirty years scores of
thousands of persons have settled in
the nearby counties of New Jersey
who would have settled in Westchester
County, and it is noteworthy that
wherever these exist there is a rapid
growth Of population and of wealth.
Such is the case along the Hudson as
far as Sing Sing, along the Sound to
Port Chester and around Mount Yer
non and White Plains. But the Bronx
Valley above Mount Vernon, the
Sprain Brook Valley and the upper
part of the Sawmill River Valley have
been almost entirely neglected, al
though they comprise some Of the
loveliest parts of the county and lie
at the very doors of New York City.
As for the bulk of the upper part of
the county, north of White Plains, il
is still almost entirely devoid of good
roads save in a few places where bri-
Vate munifcence has supplied them or
where the city of New York has built
the great main Travelled roads," such
as the Bedford road, the Somerstown
turnpike and the roads around ANA.
walk and Lake Waccabuc, are still in
a primitive condition. They run
through some of the most beautiful
country in the world; but It remains
unsettled and largely unknown simply
for lack of decent means of travel and
transportation.
The good roads movement is there.
fore to be hailed with joy. But it
is well to bear in mind that it will be
equally necessary to guard the roads
after they are built. There are many
trolley schemes we'll formulated, but
held in allegiance until these roads are
built, and then to be rushed forward
for the seizure and practical destruc.
tion of the roads. More than one ex-
ample Of such rapacity has been seen
IN the lower part of the county. Trol.
ley companies have waited until the
roads were graded and macadamized
and have then taken possession of
them, sometimes Illegally and forcibly,
and made them almost worthless for
any purpose save their own. They
are planning to do the same with these
other roads as soon as they shall be
built Against all such schemes 1t is
desirable to guard the roads in adj
vance. There might well be provi-
sions inserted in the bills for the con-
struction Of the roads prohibiting the
building of trolley lines upon them.
That would not be to exclude trolley
lines from the country altogether.
These can be built on other roads than
those which are thus improved. Let
the trolley people grade and improve
roads for themselves at their own ex-
pense If they want them. When a road
is built for driving purposes it is an
outrage to divert it to railroad uses.
In course Of time Westchester Coun-
ty will probably be covered with a
network Of electric roads, as indeed all
suburban regions will be. 1t will also,
let us hope, be covered with a still
closer network Of fine macadamized
roads for the use of horses and auto
mobile vehicles and bicycles, and
these latter should be forever kept free
from the encumbrance of the trOlleys.
Each system will serve its own good
purpose, and each should be restricted
to its own purpose. There is a league
for promoting the building of good
roads which has done a valuable work,
Whether or not a league is needed for
the purpose, there is as valuable and
as essential o work to be done for the
protection and preservation of the
good roads after they have been built.
New York Tribune.