The Vermont watchman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1883-1911, 1910-09-29
PAPERS BY EXPERTS
Will Be Read At National
Good Roads Convention
AT St. Louis
PROBLEMS Being SOL we'd

| W. he ane adsntAlhlhg High
ways Constructed to Meet Moderl
Traffic CoDditions-NotabIe Gather
Ing Of Farmers and Motorist
/ Expected.
Solving the roads problem whicl
has followed in the wake ofAthe auto
mobile, and the consequent create
use OF the highways, is not as Difficult
by far as seemed to be the case II
the early days of the coming of tn,
motor-driven vehicle, which now find,
It's need even greater on farm thar
In city and town. That marked pro
gress has been made In the past yea,
In the building and maintaining O.
roads to meet modern traffic condi
tons will be convincingly demonstrat
ed by the technical papers to be pre-
scented by leading highway authorize.
OF the country at the Third Nationa
GOOD Roads Convention, to be held III
ST Louis September 20, 29 and 30 al
the Coliseum, in which notable gath.
ering farmers and motorists will
thoroughly pass upon a question o,
vital interest to themselves and othe,
continuous road-users.
Commenting upon the changing road
conditions, Chairman George C. DiebI
has the following to say
The highway traveller who goes a
distance Is primarily interested in the
Improvement and maintenance of CITY
streets. park roads, and trunk lines
connecting the various centers Of pop
ulation, as in practically every tour
1t Is necessary to pass over these
three classes of highways, and 1t is
particularly aggravating in many in
stances when entering a city to find an
intolerable condition of the city
streets that destroys very largely the
pleasure OF motoring. In many in
stances this condition is due to lack
OF foresight in providing sufficient
funds by the city authorities. and also
to lack of knowledge Of how to make
the proper repairs, although the Off
cial In charge is almost invariably
anxious and willing to properly i'm
prove and repair the streets of his
municipality.
No city in the country has passed
more quickly from the stage of miser-
able city streets to condition of
smooth, durable, and dustless pave
ments than the city OF st, Louis. Be-
fore the Worlds Fair, in 1903, the
Straptc IF CT ar;e r,oro d,,.4.. ..J
disgrace to the municipality
and an annoyance and menace to the
travelling public. That city has since
expended several million dollars in
securing the finest pavements in the
country. Every type of paving has
been used, and the work has been ex-
ceptionally well performed under the
Of James c. Travilla, the
city street commissioner. The dele
gates who attend the convention at
st. Louis, particularly the street COM
missioners from various cities of the
country, will have an excellent oppor-
tunity of becoming informed upon the
latest and most approved methods of
building and maintaining city streets,
as Mr.. Travilla will present a paper
An the subject, "City Streets and Bou-
levards," and every opportunity will
he given the visiting street commits
sioners to fully discuss and inform
themselves regarding the various
methods Of construction and the mer-
Its of the system used in st. Louis
This feature of the convention alone
warrants the various cities to incu.
the expense of sending their highway
as delegates to this large ma
tional gathering.
at is not unusual in motoring
through the many beautiful parks sit
lated near large cities in this country
to travel over park roads which were
smooth and pleasant, but are
now filled with holes, or dusty and
muddy, all showing the effects of i'll
methods of dust preven-
ives. The various park commits
sioners throughout the country are no
doubt anxious and willing that their
roads and boulevards be dustless,
~,
out there are so many different meth
DDS of treating these roads that unless
,hese park commissioners have made
l special study of the subject, they
ire apt to adopt ways of improving
,bese roads which have proved fail
Tres, and which add to, rather than
essen the diseomfora to which the
User of the road Is put.
zone of the most expert men in the
country in the treatment of park
'oads is John r. Rablin, engineer of
he Metropolitan Park Commission of
Boston. He will present paper at
he National convention on Park
Roads" and the many park commits
'ioners throughout the country will
nave the opportunity of learning first
land from Mr.. Rablin just what meth |
IDS have proved failures and how they |
AN most economically and efficient |
y improve the parkways under their |
,harge. Mr.. Rablin will also explain
he system of creating the metropoli- |
an district around Boston, which has |
'esulted in a magnificent system OF |
,arks and boulevards and which would |
lot have been possible otherwise. In |
hese days of rapid travel the crea-
ion of parks and parkways is a most |
important subject, and 1t Is frequently |
necessary by reason of the fast build /
ng up of centers Of population to |
M rcha "a lands af aome distance from