Martinsburg herald. [volume] (Martinsburg, W. Va.) 1881-1920, 1909-08-28
ROAD SHOULD Be
BRICK SAYS LIGHT
State Road Commissioner Discusses
Problem of Building Permanent
Highways.

kNO DiOOAChA NhlCu tOn GOAAA IL
the people OF West Virginia de-
mands more serious consideration at
present than the question Of good
roads. This is the opinion of State
Highway Inspector Charles p. Light.
of Martinsburg who Was in Hunting
tonand consulted the county commits
sioners on the road question. Mr..
Light took up with the county court
the necessity for the appointment of
a county highway inspector.
Mr.. Light talked at length concern
ing the road problem and It's ultimate
solution. He expressed the belief that
the coming OF the automobile and
cross country automobile traffic had
rendered the road question a state
one rather than a local one. In view
of the facts that the roads must be
kept up he feels that steps ought to be
taken to establish permanent and
durable highways. He inclines to
the belief that the question may
best be settled by the building of
brick roads rather than by macad-
am.
AZ was born and reared in the
limestone country" he said and have
been acquainted since my earliest
youth with limestone roads. They are
fair enough roads, I grant, but they
are not sufficiently durable, the differ
ence in the cost of brick paving and
maeadimization being much less than
the difference in durability, with the
balance greatly in favor of the brick.
Say for instance you construct sixty
miles of limestone road in Cabell
county. In two years 1t must be
repaired and from that time forward
every cent of road tax raised in the
country, under the present levy,
would need to be spent keeping
these roads in shape. Build a brick
highway and there win be no serious
need Of repair for se%venty-five or a
hundred years.
Il understand of course that to
make a brick highway possible We
must perfect a system of drainage,
else the brick would wash of our
hillsides. but | see no good reason
why the drainage problem should not
easily be solved.
"The next question OF course is
money. Now the state of Maryland
is building macadamized roads at a
cost of $1,000 per mile. The same
roads nan ho hrf1f q hrtoIr Fnr
$4,000 per mile more. They tell me
you have built brick pavements here
in Huntington for $1.16 per square
and on this estimate you could build
a brick road, ten feet wide, for six
or seven thousand dollars a mile.
Ten feet wide s sufficient for all
practical purposes, and the dirt road
would be left on the side for those
prefering it. However, cheaply we
do this work we must have money,
and | am as yet undecided as to
whether it would be best to advo-
cate a constitutional amendment per-
hitting the issuance OF state bonds
for road purposes or to ask the coun-
ties to issue bonds. | do not con-
slider a state tax equitable and for
this reason am opposed to increasing
state levies.
"In the meanwhile, before any.
thing definite is done to the end
that we establish permanently high
ways we must keep the roads we
have in the best condition possible.
Now | think it would oe wise to re-
viye and enforce a statute passed in
1873 which provides that county
prisoners may be worked on the
roads. I know that there is a great
deal of opposition to this suggestion
but under prevailing conditions we.
derive no benefit from the incarce-
ration of such prisoners and the con-
tinual confinement and inactivity is
bad for the prisoners themselves"