Daily new dominion. [volume] (Morgantown, W. Va.) 1897-1906, 1902-03-17
ABOUT ROADS.
All of them are now too narrow.

conditions are lut0lera0ie now nai
will they be In the near fnture!-
Bridges Inadequate to future demands
Strong note OF Warning Sounded.
To the Editor of the New DOMINION:
The thing of all things that our
local development Is thrusting upon
the attention OF our municipal aud
County authorities, Is that of the
character of our public roads.
do not refer to their condition of
repair-~that Is a we'll worn topic
but to the fact that, whether In or
out Of repair. our public roads are al
ready too narrow TO accommodate the
increase OF population and traftic.
This Is fact that Is known, az yet
only to teamsters and the citizen who
gets out on the suburban roads in a
vehicle occasionally.
Our roads were laid out for the
sparse population and the incidental
aud Insignificant traffic Of past CEN
tury. There is not public road in
the country where two teams can pass
without one or both driving into the
cutters or getting one side OF the ve-
hicle up on the bank. There Is but
one narrow track In the middle that
can be called road. Every vehicle
takes this track, and when it meets
another the one with the most court
esy goes into the gutter till the other
one passes. Ii more than two meet
there is blockade 1t was an every
| day observation last summer to see
three or -four teams waiting on each
other at points on our suburban roads.
Time was being wasted, drivers were
losing time and temper; teams were
being strained 30 get heavy loads out
of the cutters; and altogether there
was waste OF time and money caused
/ by this continuous blockade Of the
road ways.
This is the situation now But
what next?
Already franchise has been grant
ed, and street-cars will be demanding
q part Of these marrow public high
ways. Before another season rolls
around these cars, and automobiles
also, will be on some or all Of them.
Is nothing To be done 10 anticipate
this situation? Are we TO have moth
| Ing doing until our local traffic Is
crippled and almost rendered fmpossi-
/ bic By the condition OF our roads?
Are the County Commissioners and
the City Council TO sit supnely se-
rene aud ohlivious until the situation
becomes unbearable and the outeries
of the public stir them to Think Or
Ii. 1t at all The duty OF the authorities
| TO Think Have they any business 60
| Think Or have they any thinkery?
| Ii 1t Is their duty 60 think, and They
have a thinkery, how long does it take
them TO get into operation?
Moreover the parties who are pro-
| iecting street car lines, and proposing
to invest large sums OF money in this
enterprise will want to get out of
town. Their profits. II any, will come
largely from conveying people living
IN the suburbs to aud from town.
But the bridges are like the roads
not one of them now standing is wide
enough or strong enough for street
car traffic. 1t will be impossible for
street car line TO get across Decker's
creek TO reach the population Of South
that is the population most in need
OF street cars. Even the suspension
bridge is not wide enough or strong
enough TO let them across the river.
Is anybody trying TO solve these
problems? Is anybody thinking for
| this growing community2
Some enterprlsiug private citizens
we understand, offered short time
ago TO build strong, modern bridge
| from the end OF Main street across
| DeGker's creek at their owe expense.
And when permission was sought OF
the town council and the county court
those bodies were utterly Indifferent
| to Ii.
! 1t Is true the parties seeking to
build that bridge bad private interests
| In view, but there is no enterprise
that would be OF more benefit to the
the town, and is OF more present
urgent necessity TO the development
Of the town than bridge at that
point. It would open Main street on
straight line clear to the cemetery.
1t would afford direct means or
reaching the large and increasing pop
4 hfdllOU Vi but sUuUu sue ny u ecu Idi
line VI cars convenient to that whole
population. And it would open up
some OF the finest building territory
we have for the expansion OF the
town. The writer has no axe TO
grind, but he desires to say that such
a bridge Is the most desirable adjunct
of our local situation that could be
named; and when it was offered to the
town free OF cost, the public thinkery
must have been running at slow
gait that did not seize the opportunity.
This subject of eur publir high
ways, it seems to me, to be the livest
public question with which our peo-
pie have TO deal; and it would not be
amiss TO ask those who are standing
for election to places of municipal and
lcounty responsibility, what they are
going to do about it? S. A. NJ