The Newport plain talk. (Newport, Tenn.) 1909-1939, 1911-10-19
Millions Of Dollars Being Spent
for Improvements of
Highways.
COOKE COUNTY, 100000
The History of Road Improve
ment is, That Once a County
Gets a Bond Issue and a Sam
pie of Good Roads, the Pike
Work is Extended to all Parts
of the County.

w OTk Is EAlCiluCu W diI 1dItS
of the County.
There is probably not another section
in all America that is pushing the
good roads movement with more vigor
than East Tennessee, and there is prob
ably no section of similar size and
wealth that has built as man7 miles Of
good roads 10 the last two or three
2 years as the counties of East Tenn
essee. 'a
Z Where decade ago there was hard
ly pike to be found, the East Tenn
essee county that does not have macad-
arnized highways is now the except
ion, and in couple of years, it will be
possible to travel through every
county in this grand division of the
state without leaving a highly I'M
proved highway.
A few months hence, East Tenn
essee will since this recent road build
ing crusade started have spent quite
four million dollars for pixies, and
within the present year, East Tenn-
essee counties have authorized the is
suance of about one and half million
dollars pike bonds. The following is a
list OF issues authorized by the recent
legislature and since voted by the
county courts:-
McAIinn, 100000; Monroe, 100000;
Blount, $3O0,0OO; Cooke, 100000;
Granger, 100000; Loudon, S25,0o0;
Carter, $4,000; Washington, $4,000.
Still another county, Roane, order
ed, an issue of pike bonds. authorized
by the Legislature, and about $50 900 Is
now available for good roads.
In many of the counties, work is al.
ready under way. In some counties,
Loudon and Granger, for instance,
these issues are but beginning of
road improvement work. In Others,
notably McMinn and Cooke, these is
sues will complete system OF pixies
that form network fer the entire,
county. 1t is the history of road n
provement that once a county orders
an issue and gets good roads sample,
the pike work is continued until all
parts Of the county get the improve
inent.
East Tennesseeans point with pride,
10 the fact that four-iifths of the road
Improvements being made in the state
are in this grand division. Some
thing in excess of five millions Of dol
lars Of road work has been completed
or put under way in the state, and
four-fifths of this work is in East Tenn.
The recent federal census showed that
sihe biggest strides made in Tennessee
during the decade ending with 1910
were in East Tennessee, and good
roads enthusiasts will tell you that a
large part of the development in this
section is due to the good roads move
ment. 1t is fact the records will
bear out that the most prosperous
counties in The state are those which
have improved highways.
Road building in Tennessee was
given great impetus by the Bristol
,o-Memphis highway movement. In
some instances, this movement put on
foot road improvement in counties
that had not spent a dollar for perma-
nent highways. Two of these counties
Lo0don and Carter aIe IN East Tenn
cssee, and the statew highway
movement caused Middle and West
Tennessee to catch the good roads fe-
yer as they have never before had it,
and within year, IL is said the great
Menlphis-to-Bristol highway will
have been completed, and a chauffeur
may drive his car from Shelby county
20 Sullivan without soimuch as run
ming over stone larger than a hen
egg, or getting his tires covered with
mud. And In a little while longer, il
Is believed the great highway will
have oeen extended from Bristol TO the
national capital, and at the southern
extremity a movement TO continue the
road down the Mississippi to New
Orleans has been started.
In East Tennessee, the road CON
iitions at the present are good. for the