The French Broad hustler. [volume] (Hendersonville, N.C.) 1896-1912, 1911-05-11

M - NJ
For Good Roads aud What the
State Hopes to Achieve Next Year
Dr. .Joheph Hyde Pratt writes
WpckIenburg's Great Interest.
DR.. Joseph Hyde Pratt, State geo.
,ooist and one of the. leading pro-
moters of the good roads cause in
North Carolina is quoted as follows:
cone of the most important prob
Ions confronting North Carolina to-
dav is that relating 10 the construc-
ION of good roads. The State while
Che realizes the value of good roads
and is making tremendous strides
toward creating a demand for them
and providing can for their com
etruction, also realizes that notwith-
standing the splendid showing made,
q still more concerted action on the
mart of the people is yet necessary
before the State a reap to the full
lest the benefits resulting from good
roads.
North Carolinans have expressed
now demanding them, and while we
are not yet making as rapid progress
in good road construction as we would
like, yet we are advancing, and adj
vancing rapidly, at the rate of over
one mile of good new road per day.
During the past yea the State has
added 4O3 miles of good road to her
total and these good roads mean
roads that are good 365 days in the
wear having been surfaced with
macadam, sand clay, clay or gravel.
Besides this mileage of good roads
she has improved other roads by ELI
minating grades, etc.
zone of the main reasons why
North Carolina and other States are
so far behind in their good roads
construction is that they have failed
to expend their revenue of both la
Dor and money which have been
available for road work to the best
advantage. North Carolina is reliz-
ing the mistakes she has made. and
that are still being made, in many of
the counties of the State, and is
now trying to have all her road work,
whether it is the construction of new
roads, repair of old roads or main
tenance of roads, done under the sup
ervision of competent road engineers.
zone important result of the edu-
CdIlOAd1 WOlh anu ~OAS1hCCI1AS dSS1S-
lance hat has already been provided
by the State is that the people of the
State are now fully alive to the value
and need of ~intercounty and inter-
state highways. Such highways are
being surveyed and located. which,
when constructed, will connect the
seacoast with the mountains. will con-
meet North Carolina with Virginia
on the North, South Carolina and
Georgia on the south, and Tennessee
IN the west. These through highways
are to be made first-class and surfaced
with some material such as macadam,
or sand-clay which will insure their
being in good condition throughout
the year. Experiments have shown
that the sand-clay road when properly
constructed gives almost perfect sat
isfaction; and when kept in perfect
condition the cost of hauling a ton
per mile is only eight cents, which
is the same as the cost of hauling
the same load over the best maca-
dam. 1t will Withstand the traffic of
wagons and automobiles full as well
as macadam but has to be worked on
a little more constantly than maca-
dam.
In eastern North Carolina where
rock formations are extremely rare,
the sand-clay road is becoming the
universal good road; and its cost in
this section is about one fifth to one
sixth, of the macadam. As we ap-
proach the center of the State we
find more macadam and gravel roads,
and in the w~est-central and western
part of the State a still larger per-
centage of macadam roads. Expert
ments have shown, however, that the
sand-clay road can be constructed and
maintained in central and western
North Carolina Just as satisfactorily
as in eastern North Carolina. and now
the sand-clay road is beginning to
be used quite extensively in these
section of the state, especially in the
more remote portion of the counties
and communities, with the macadan
roads leading to town and railroad.