The Prince George's enquirer and southern Maryland advertiser. (Upper Marlborough, Md.) 1882-1925, 1908-12-18
Roads for Automobiles.


Sooner or later the Good Roads Com
| mission will have to deal with what to
many is the most serious prof. lem of all
those confronting it-namely, the con,
struction of the roads SO as to stand the
strain Of the automobile traffic.
As yet but little thought has been
given this subjects by the commission,
which has been chiefly busy in selecting
the routes in the counties and effectine
complete organization for the work
which will begin in the spring
Those who have studied the question,
however, realize that the roads must bt
built so as to stand the automobile traffi {
or else they will not last and the
millions which the State proposes to
spend on the roads will be of eompara-
lively small value. In all of the States
that can be classed as progressive in the
matter of roadbuiiding this automobile
problem is recognized as a serious one
and the road engineers of the country
are doing their best to find the right
solution.
In Massachusetts, where many thous-
aDds of dollars have been spent liz con
structing roads and where the highways
are as fne as anywhere in the country
it has been found that the roads are be-
ing rapidly destroyed by the automo-
0iles. The suction of the big tires
driven at high speed over the roads loos
ems the stones and cause the road to dis
integrate. In the course of very little
while the road is in bad shape, and the
money spent in its construction has
practically been thrown away.
This question of the effect of automo :
biie traffic on the modern road was one
Of the chief subjects discussed recently
ut the international conference of road
engineers he'd in Paris, which was at
tended by Chief Engineer w. W. Crosby
ofthe Good Roads Commission, and the
discussion there will, no doubt, be of
HdluC W I'll. SlOspJ Huoh th0 'iIdS al
rives for the taking up Of this important
question by the commission.
The assertion is made that it is question
that cannot be ignored and must be
derlt with While the roads are not be-
ing built for the benft of the automobiles
The automobile is factor that must be
-eckond with. 1t has come to stay, and
each year sees rapid increase in num-
bers Within short time, it is predict
ed by many, they will haul their crops
to market by means of automobile
trucks.
Students of the road question in this
State want 70 see the commission deal
with this subject in broad-minded ano
liberal manner, and they want the roads
built so that they will stand the automo
bile traffic and not disintegrate under it
-Fheyeay that it is the duty of the COM
mission to provide roads that will be
permanent and not merely transient,
and that it must build for the future and
let only Il6 present.
The Good Roads Commission realizes
this situation, and many weeks age
Governor Crothers, at one Of the meet
ings, made the statement that the auto
mobile question with which the commits
siOn would have to reckon, and that it
was well to recognize at the outset that
the automobile is here to stay and tina
The roads must be constructed with this
fact in mind and likewise with thu
knowledge that as the years go on the
number of automobiles in Maryland
will increase rapidly.
Chief Engineer Crosby fully recog-
nizes the Importance of this matter, and
some years ago pointed out the necessity
of road construction that would stand
the strain of the big and fast automo-
biles that travel ovepthem.
Exactly in what way the commission
| sill deal with this condition is uncsr-
tain. Tie time has not yet arrived for
the subject to be taken up in detail, and
the discussions thus far by the commip-
sion have been of general nature.
Many suggestions have been made,
one Of which is the mixing with the
road construction of some tarry sub
stance that will have the adhesive pow
er Is prevent the disintegration that re-
suits from continued automobile travsI
over the best and most modern stone
| road. Other suggestions have been pre-.
sented and these, it is expected, will
be sifted and weighed when the time
comes. What is chiefly wanted by mer
interested in permanent good roads is
/ that ia building those new proposed il
the State this question should be me
and dealt with in the light of the bes
information possible and that Maryland
should proft. by the experience Of othe
States where the automobiles have play
ed havoc with some of the finest an(
m ost modern roads in the country.