The Birmingham age-herald., 1910-09-04


 three classes, which may briefly be de- scribed as state, county and town high ways.
 "The state highways include all of the main trunk lines, connecting the different centers of population of the several coun- ties. It Is estimated that such trunk lines would comprise about per cent of the total mileage, and that these should be constructed solely at the expense ol the state; or. under federal government control, at the joint expense of the state and the nation.
 ''The second class of highways, called county roads. should be those arteries of travel which comprise the main market roads of each county, which will form a properly divided and connecting system of county highways, taking into consid- eration their value for the purpose of common traffic and travel. Such high ways should be constructed at the joint expense of state and county and town, the proportion borne by county and town to be based upon population and total valuation of the total mileage. It is esti- mated that such highways would com prise about 6 per cent of the total mile- age. Both of these classes of highways would, of necessity and by reason of the great amount of travel that they would be called upon to sustain, be of an ex- pensive and durable type. The roads should be wide, with low grades, but properly surfaced with some durable dustless. material.
 'The remaining roads, constituting about 90 per cent of the total, might be classed as town roads, and the expense of their repair and maintenance should be borne jointly by township and state, and all work should be under the con- trol of the state highway commission.
 There is now expended throughout the United States about sSO000,000 annually in repair and maintenance of dirt or lateral roads. Much of this money Is wasted by reason of its being expended in tempor- ary and unnecessary work. When such work Is under the control of a state highway commission, the requirement. could be made compulsory, and only one fourth of this amount of money-which Is amply suffcient--need be expended for temporary work, smoothing the road sur face, and keeping the ditches free from obstruction. The balance of the fund could then be used in work of a per manent character, such as the construc- tioii Ol SdiNcltSp DIluStS ana Slu1ceS. re- ducing steep grades, and placing upon the roads-after being properly dragged, suit able road material
 "The maintenance of all classes of roads should be systematically and carefully done, under what might be termed a pa trol system, wherein a certain mileage oi road is turned over to a patrolman who passes over it every day, or as often as may be necessary, and repairs all of the minor defects. On the macadam, or more expensive roads, patrolmen would prob ably be required every five or 10 miles On town roads, patrolman could cover much greater territory. which thor oughfare would require. especially the dirt roads, proper dragging or 'honing" after every rain. It is especially important that all of these patrolmen, whether town county or state, be retained year after year, as their knowledge of practical road work and their value to the community increases with the length of their service In this way, throughout the country, we would soon have body of trained men familiar with road materials and methods of operating under the skilled and experi- -enced advice Of State or federal officials, with the result that our roads would not [onlyi extent but in superior quality, soon equal, and doubtless in times surpass the famous roads of other lands"
 This third national good roads conven- tion promises to be a notable gathering for the southwest where the question oi highway improvement Is one of the live issues of the day. The committee in cludes officers of the National Grange, Farmers union, American Automobile as- sociation, United States office of public roads, American Road Builders associa- ton, National Association of Automobile Manufacturers. League of, American