The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1900-05-30
! GOOD ROADS NOTES
The Money Value of Good Roads,

The Money Value of Good Roads.
THE report of the Maryland
II Geological Survey for 1892
announces that the people Of
9 that State have expended over
Sc, 900, 600 in the last ten years on their
common roads; most OF the money has
been wasted in continual repairing.
Many of the roads have no natural
drainage. They are bad roads part
or all of the time. The Survey has
made careful estimate showing that
it costs the people of Maryland $3,.
600, 600 year more to do their haul.
ing over poor highways than it would
cost if they were turned into frst-rate
roads.
This estimate supplements the in
formation collected by the Department
of Agriculture in 1895, when it re-
ceived data from over twelve hundred
counties from all over the country and
found that the average cost OF hauling
ton load'one, mile was twenty-five
cents, while the average cost in siy
European countries that possess i'm.
proved highways was almost exactly
one.third as much. More than one
factor enters into the cost OF hauling,
but the main reason why our farmers
pay three times as much per mile az
European farmers pay is that they can
haul, on an average, only one ton over
poor dirt roads, while the European
farmer hauls from three to four tons
at load over fine highways. .%
y No one knows the total mileage Of
our common roads, but their length in
New York State is estimated at 1885,
900 miles. The more important high.
ways of Massachusetts have a mileage
of 20,500 miles. All students of high.
way improvement agree that the con.
dition of most of the common roads il
America is about that of the English
roads, early in this century, when
they were 30 bad and toll rates 80 higt
that the question Of improvement was
forced upon the British public. Eng
land had no railroads then, and if il
had not been for the wonderful de-
velopmeut of our railroads the ques-
tion of highway improvement would
have come to the front long ago in thie
country. The people, however, are
more and more impressed every year
with the fact that road improvement
is necessary to reduce the cost of haul.
ing, ITO make roads fit for pleasure
driving, and to save the enormous
waste OF labor now expended on bad
roads. When we fully understand
that there is no economical way to
obtain good roads except by building
the best, our practical education will
have made long step.
This lesson has not yetbeenlearned
thoroughly. Many of our so-called
good roads are not the best tand, there
fore, are not economical. The men
who built them would have done bet.
ter work and spent no more money if
they had profted by the experience
of England and France.
Maryland has gone about the work
of road Improvement in a way that
promises excellent results. The State
has recognized the fact that geological
considerations are a most important
factor in good road-making. III 1898
the General Assembly passed a bill
for the annual expenditure of $40, 900
by the Geological Survey in the inves-
tigation of road construction in the
State. The first published result is
this comprehensive report on the dis
tribution of the rock material required
for good road-making, on the failure
of the "improved" roads to meet the
needs of modern traffic, chiefly owing
to the fact that they were built with
out competent engineering super
vision and without care as to grades
and drainage, and on many other prac-
tical matters. The report will help to
place road improvement in Maryland
on an intelligent basis. 1t should
likewise promote the cause of good
roads throughout the country.-New
York Sun,