Middlebury register. (Middlebury, Vt.) 1886-1937, 1911-02-24
FRIDAY, FEBRUARY "a, 1911.
EVERY AUTO HAS COST
THOUSANDS IN ROADS.
New York City Has to Reconstruct
$50 Miles of Macadam That
Machines Have De-
stroyed.
State To Spend 100000 900.
WORK THEN ONLY BEGUN-57, 600 MOTOR
CARS IN THIS STATE, AGA, 900 IN
THE UNITED STATES.

THE UNITED STATES.
[From New York Times.l
every automobile running in the city
of New York has cost $35, 260 in macadam
roads. Every automobile in the State of
New York has cost $50, 300 in macadam
roads. In dirt roads the cost is prob
lematical, but it is great. Outside of
New York City there are forty times
more dirt roads than macadam roads in
the State. The dirt roads have been
avoided by automobiles, but they have
been used more or less. 1t is figured
now that the dirt roads will have to be
overlaid to meet the requirements of
modern traffic. In ten years the State
has laid or relaid about 1000 miles of
macadam roads. 1t has relaid more
than 500 miles in the last two years,
with the completion of its contracts.
"All the macadam roads have been de-
stroyed by automobiles. This is ac-
knowledged. 1t is also commonly
agreed that the roads must be rebuilt.
The cost of rebuilding them will be
much greater than the loss from their
destruction, because a new process of
road building must be adopted to &C
commodate the automobile.
IAN authority for these arguments is
Nelson P. Lewis, Chief Engineer of the
Board of Estimate, from whose state
ments in an interview in The Times the
other day these deductions are readily
made. Another authority is the State
Highway Commission, which said prac-
tically the same thing in reporting to
the Legislature few days after Mr..
Lewis had made his observations.
New York City has $50 miles of
macadam highway and few hundred
miles of dirt roads. The city has long
intended to macadamize its dirt roads.
so that the additional cost to the CITY of
the wear and tear on dirt roads will he
only the difference between the cost of
macadam and that of the new stvle
pavement.
Il.
I'm the State there are 2, 400 miles of
macadam and 80, 900 miles of dirt roads
1here Is macadam road, virtually be-
ing rebuilt now, all the way from New
York City to Buffalo, through the in
tervenlng cities, nearly 500 miles. In
this city there are &c, 600 registered
automobiles. In the State there are
$4,000 registered automobiles. The
State contracts for road building, with
extras, run close to $l5, 600 a mile. and
the State is not building a road that is
certain to hold fast under the auto-
mobile, but sort of compromise in a
combination of bituminous binding with
the waterbound macadam.
From these figures the cost of each
automobile in the miles of ruined roads
is reckoned here. To this must he
added the additional cost of rebuilding
by the improved method for automobile
traffic and the incalculable cost of re-
constructing the dirt roads into useful
highways for motor cars.
Until the automobile came the ma
cadam road was considered perfect for
the country. Nobody contends now
that the automobile is not tearing it up
and scattering for motor vehicles.
Some engineers say the macadam can
be repaired and coated with oil, tar or
pitch to bind it. This is what the State
Highway Commissioner is doing.
Others, including Mr.. Lewis, say this
won't do except as a makeshift. The
great French engineer, Mauhieu, whom
Mr.. Lewis quoted, holds the same view.
Mr.. Lewis thinks this patching method
helps, but is not the remedy.
What every automobile has cost tax
payers, then, in the destruction of roads
is small item compared with what it
will cost in rebuilding them and con-
structing new roads on the clay. The
cost of highways that have to be ce-
mented, SO to speak, by the use of oil
or pitch instead of water is the differ
ence between the cost of oil and the
cost of water. 1t used to cost from
$4,000 to $40, 900 a mile to lay ma
cadam.