The Bennington evening banner. (Bennington, Vt.) 19??-1961, 1904-04-01
ADDRESS OF
PROF. VOTEY
Feature of the Good Roads
Meeting Yesterday.
SOME EXPERT ADVICE
Not One Of Benninston's -Four
Road Commissioners Was
at the Meeting,
SOME EXPERT ADVICE

Prof VoIey's talk on roads and
road building before the county road
commissioners at the court house yes
terday afternoon should have been
heard by every taxpayer. He was in
troduced by statehighway commission
er Sanford and spoke for over an
hour.
He spoke on "The Problem of the
Country Road, with special reference
to the viewpoint of road commission
ers opening to the general movement
for better roads all over the country
in the last few years and showed that
higher standard Of road is now re-
CURED especially in states that have
progressed in road improvement.
The residents of this state are not
content with the class of roads which
satisfied them few years ago. The
need of good roads in New England is
now generally appreciated. The main
question is of ways and means 20 Sc
cure them. A good road in Prof Vo-
tey's estimate is one that permits the
hauling Of the largest possible load at
all seasons OF the year and requires the
least expenditure for maintenance. To
secure this road, grades must be re-
duced, attention must be paid to
drainage and there must be a wearing
surface Of broken stones or gravel.
The difficulties which Vermont has
to contend with in striving for this
class of roads are the enormous road
mileage, there being nearly Is, 600 in
the state, the high cost of the work, no
matter what the method, the lack OF
road machinery and of trained road
builders. Each OF these difficulties
was discussed in detail by the speaker.
He showed by comparison that the
probable cost Of the improved roads
in Vermont with those of other states
is less owing to the abundance and
availability Of road material.
The character and cost OF the i'm
proved road work in New Jersey,
Massachusetts, Connecticut and New
York we're discussed, especial attention
being paid to the reduction OF the
cost and changes of the methods re-
sulting from the experience of these
states. Prof Votey made clear that
while, in his estimation, undoubtedly
much money had been wasted on roads
in Vermont in the last few years, a sur
prising amount of permanent work
had been done in some towns with
very little money.
He emphasized the need of road com
missioners making all work of char
acter that would count in any future
work that might be done on the road.
He dwelt at length on the use Of good
gravel in road building and repairing,
especially in the country districts.
The macadam road is only one type
and is not required or possible to the
mountain towns. A gravel road
should be built on the same plan as
the roads of better type, rollers and
other machinery being necessary in
its construction. There are some Of
the many gravel roads built within the
last 10 or IL years which are in the
best of condition.
From this their character grades
down to very, inferior in some places
so-called gravel Telford roads have
been constructed, the stone walls and
field "hard heads" being used for
base with hard rolled gravel surface.
The chief fault with the poor gravel
roads is that they are not rolled and
properly packed before being used for
general travel.
The conditions in Vermont make the
roads as a whole general problem
which the state must solve itself. Each
road in the state is also an individual
problem which must be worked out
along individual lines. Roughly clas-
styling the roads of the state, Prof Vo-
tey'placed first the main or through
roads or those having the heaviest
traffic These are the most imnorta NJ