Evening journal., 1912-10-05
HAS THE COUNTRY GONE CRAZY
ON ROAD CONSTRUCTIONfe

VAf hVHD OVANC AAGOlAVN
From Engineering and Contracting.
For some years Engineering News
has been protesting against what it
has regarded as excessive bond issues
for road Improvements. We are sorry
to see Engineering Record also make
the mistake of assuming that the coun-
try is going daft about road building.
In its Sept. issue, Engineering Re
cord says
The country has gone crazy on road
construction. We need many miles of
better roads, but we ought to have
them for reasons that are sound and
by means that are economical. The
burden OF the debt we are shouldering
on the next generation for road i'm
provements is a mistake from which
We should withdraw.
Let us see how much there really is
to the statement that America has
gone crazy on road construction"
In Engineering and Contracting,
Sept is, we published an estimate OF
the cost OF reproducing all the i'm
proved or surfaced country roads in
the United States, as Of the year 1909.
The mileage Of surfaced roads Of diff
ferent kinds and the unit prices we're
obtained from data published by the
U. S. ONCE Of Public Roads. as re-
printed in Engineering and Contract
ing. Feb. 21. 1912. Fortunately we
have similar data as to mileage OF sur
faced roads in 1904, so that II is posi-
Bile TO make close calculation of the
amount Of capital expended during the
fve-year period (1904-1909) on improv-
ed or surfaced roads.
Table shows our estimate of the
cost of reproducing all the surfaced
country roads outside Of villages and
cities in the United States at the end
of 1903. The mileage OF stone roads
given for Illinois in 1909 (see En-
gineering and Contracting. Feb. 1912
includes also gravel roads, and we
have prorated that mileage on the
1904 basis.
Table II gives a similar calculation
for the year 1904. and It will be noted
that the estimated value of surfaced
roads in 1909 exceeds that in 1904 by
less than s100,0O0,000. Hence about
S20,000,000 we're spent annually on
country road surfacing or improve
ment. This is but slightly more than
20 cents per capita per annum--a sum
so Insignificant as to be positively
ridiculous. Yet the years 1904-1909 far
exceeded any previous years in ex-
penditures for road improvement.
What the last three years have shown
in road improvement can not be stated
authoritatively, but we doubt whether
there has been more than a so per
cent annual per capita gain over the
expenditures OF 1904-1909. We be-
lieve that not more than 80 cents per
capita per annum has been spent in
road surfacing sincec 1909. and in any
event, we can not be far wrong in US
ing 30 cents per capita in the calcula-
tons that follow. II should be re-
membered that We are not now speak
ing Of road maintenance expenditures,
but of improvements consisting main
/ ly OF surfacing existing dirt roads with
nacadam, gravel, sand-clay, brick
concrete, and other hard coverings
In Engineering and Contracting
Sept. Is. we showed that the invest
ment in all the country roads in Amer
lea amounts TO about $50 per capita
OF which only $3.50 represents sur
faced or improved roads. If 80 cents
per capita per year has been spent
in road surfacing as above indicated
America has added to its rod invest
ment only l per cent per year IN the
/ form of improved roads!
Let W consider now, what the steam
railways Of America have done during
the same five-year period, 1904-1909
During those five years, railway capi-
tai increased S4,275,000, 1000. so that IN
1909 It totaled S17,500,000 600. This
is equivalent to an annual increase o
more than per cent Railway tracl
mileage increased 4s.o00 miles durinl
that period. or an annual increase o
more than per cent, but track mile
age did not increase as rapidly as tn'
investment in new railway property
II is a Conservative estimate that th'
capital invested in steam railway plan
increase more than per cent per an
mum during the years 1904 and 1903.
Investments in new steam railways
and in betterments unquestionabl,
have not kept pace with traffic dem
ands, for traffic has increased almos
as the square Of the increase OF popu
lation. In other words, population in
creases per cent annually, while rail
way construction increases 4 per cen
annually, and even then does not keel
pace with transportation demands
What, then, shall We say OF an IN