Evening star., 1911-08-13

| first American road congress, to be held
at Richmond. Va. With large delega-
tion from the north and the motorists
from the south. who intend to come in
| caravan to attend the congress, under
the leadership of Leonard Tufts, meet
| ing at the southern capital, it is plan
| ned to urge the construction of the in
| ternatfonal highway from Montreal to
Miami Fla, and arouse enthusiasm
among the delegates to the convention
to bring about this project. Mr.. Sima rd
is actively engaged In the proposition in
Canada and with the assistance of the
various highways along the route it Is
| up and pushed forward to completion.
President Leonard Tufts. who is devot-
ing considerable time and attention to the
work throughout the south, in speaking
of the work of his association a few days
ago said:
1T is the feeling of the officers that tho
work will only have been started when
the actual good road has been built, as
much more difficult task than the con-
struction awaits us in the necessary cam
pa1gn for its maintenance. There seems
to be a widespread idea that after a
road has been constructed that ends 1t,
but unfortunately road is no sooner
made perfect than it begins to make itself
imperfect, and it will require constant
watchfulness on the part of the members
and officers to see that it is kept up
In France and many of the foreign
countries part of the expense of the road
building is protecting it from the sun
and wind. and this is done. by the plant
ing of trees. Now think how much this
adds to the pleasure of driving and how
much it adds to the beauty of the road.
What relief it is on hot August day
to go from a bad dusty road, where the
shaded
where the road has been protected from
the drying of the sun and wind. In the
winter the relief is almost as great on
cold day when the wind cuts you like
knife as 1t sweeps across the unbroken
country. but when you come again into
the shaded portion the wind has been
blocked.
Eight or nine hundred miles Of tree
bordered road seems like a wild dream.
and 1t will not be possible for us to realize
it at once for trees take time to grow,
and it Is harder to induce people to plant
trees than to build roads. But this 500 or
900 miles of road can be planted with
trees in its entirety for about $4,000. II
ali those receiving this will support the
Capital Highway Association as they
should, we will see that half Of these
trees are planted this winter"
The officers of the Capital Highway AS
sociation are as follows:
President. Leonard Tufts Pinehurst. n
c.; vice president for Virginia, Allen
POTTS. Richmond. Va; vice president for
North Carolina, E. c. Hlllyer, Raleigh,
n. c.; vice president for South Carolina,
F. H. Hyatt, Columbia, S. c.; treasurer,
Edwin W. Robertson. Columbia, 8. c.,
and secretary, John R. Mcqueen. Pine
hurst. n. c.; directors, Thomas Barrett,
jr., Augusa, Ga: D. s. Henderson, Aiken,
S. c.: Dr. e. N whaley, Columbia, s. c.;
W. d. Evans. Cheraw, s. c.; j. l..
Everett Rockingham, N. C.; 8. c. Vann,
Franklnton, N. c.; r. w. Lassiter. Ok
ford, n. c.. and C. X. Lassiter. Peters
burg, Va.
The question Of improving that portion
of the Baltimore-Washington boulevard
between Contee and Beltsvile, Md, was
taken up a few days ago by Secretary
Pennypacker Of the American Association
for Highway Improvement, with Chief
Engineer W. w. Crosby of MARYLAND, with
a view to remedying the conditions which
at present exist at that point. Incident
ally he alluded to the sandy stretch be-
tween Elkton and Perryville.
Engineer Crosby, in reply, informed Mr. |
Pennypacker that the legislature of 1910
appropriated for the further improvement
of the Baltimore w Washington road, a suf- |
f1cient amount to complete the stretch |
between Contee and Beltsvile. Until re-
Gently, however. the state controller re-
fused to pay over to this commission the |
money appropriated because OF the obtec- |
tions raised by certain people along an
other section, who, through technicalitieS
in the law, were able to interfere with
the work on the section referred to. II
understand said Mr.. Crosby, that this
matter has been adjusted. and that this
commission will advertise for bids on this
section as soon as the plans therefor can
be completed. These plans are now under
way. and 1 think the advertisement for
bids will be made this month. However,
If the contract is awarded promptly, the |
completion of this section cannot be ex-
pected before another summer. |
LAS regards the section between Perry |
Vile and Elkton, / know no prospects
for the improvement of the direct road
in the near future. There is, however, |
a very good road part of 1t modern work. |
running from Perryville to Bayview, and |
thence to Elkton which is not very much |
of a detour from the straight way. Or |
the detour can be begun at Belair and
made via Conowingo and Rising Sun and
thence to Bayview and Elkton. This lat
ter route is few miles longer than the