Imperial Valley press., 1912-09-10
BELT LINE AUTO ROAD
IS APPARENTLY IN SIGHT

The suggestion made months Ego
for a belt line automobile road com
ing from Los Angeles to San Diego,
thence to this city and on to Yuma
and returning via Brawley and Ban
ming to Los Angeles. now seems to
be working toward cOnsummatiOn very
rapidly.
That the state will include the poi
tion between this city and San Diego
in the road TO be paved seems certain,
while the remainder of the road is
being worked out in other ways.
There is an immense program Of
road construction i'll hand in Caiifor-
MIA, and this state will in the course
Of a few years be noted for having
the best roads in America.
The Los Angeles Tribune thus re
views the work being done:
The cost of all this road work will
be enormous. The time it will take
TO complete the work will be prob
ably at least four years, possibly siN
More money may have to be voted
by the people or provided by the leg
islature before the entire scheme can
be carried to completion. Therefore
the commissions first task after lay
ing out a general plan for the highway
system was to decide which of all the
mains to be built were the most i'm
portant and pressing.
The conclusion was unanimously
reached by the state board of engi-
neering. of which the state highway
commission is merely an executive
committee. that the connecting of San
Diego and San Francisco prior to the
opening of the two great international
fairs in 1913 was unquestionably the
vital duty impressed on the highway
builders, and plans were immediatel,
laid to the end that these portions
of the two roads should be completed
Il believe that We will accomplish
this end, said Mr. Darlington yester-
day. The general skeleton plan is
complete. The necessary engineering
assistance is in the field and the pre-
llminary arrangements for transporta-
tion, for rights of way, for bridges and
for the assistance of counties and
cities in the work are practically all
made. Biologists and engineers are
now studying the problem of road ma
terial, quarries and supplies, and they
report that the natural materials may
be had in plenty and at a fair cost to
the state
As fast as we can decide on the
exact lines to be followed between
given points we are advertising and
letting contracts for actual construc-
tlon. If no unforeseen difficulties arise
We will tie San Francisco and San
Diego together by way of Los Angeles
by January l. 1915"
Austin B. Fletcher. chief engineer
and executive officer of the highway
commission. in a report made recently,
outlined the plans of the commission
and the progress up to date.
Nine routes have been decided on.
as follows:
Miles.
Route 1-San Francisco to Oregon
line Observation-Disclosures. 421
Route 2-San Francisco to San Di-
ego via Los Angeles. .......... 592
Route 3-Sacramento to Oregon
line via east side of river and
ReddlhS ...................
Route 4-Sacramento to Los Ange-
les via San Joaquin valley. -. 445
Route 5-StOckton TO Santa Cruz
via Oakland
Route 6-Sacramento to Woodland
Junction Observation-Disclosures. 20
Route 7-Tehama to Benicia .....19f
Route S-Hopland TO Vallejo via
Lake county.
Route 9-LOs Angeles to Riverside. 4G
These routes make a total length of
approximately 23O0 miles. To com
plete the system apparently contem-
plated by the statute several hundred
miles more of laterals and connections
must be provided for
Concerning the quality Of roads En-
gineer Fletcher's report saws:
In brief. the standard road which
the commission proposes to build will
have the following principal charac-
teristics:
T.. A right of way not less than so
feet in width where it is reasonably
possible, and as direct between OBJ
jective points as is consistently possi-
BILE.
=. Gradients not exceeding Z per
cent, even in the mountainous parts
Of the state
3. Curves as open as possible, and
in no case of less than 80 feet radius.
"A. As many culverts of sufficient
capacity as are needed to take care
OF surface and underground water.
p. A travelled way under ordinary
conditions not less than q feet in
width, and in the mountains not less
than 16 feet wide, with the center
paved or surfaced SO as to be haru
and smooth under all climatic condi.
tions at all times of the year. the
width of the surfacing to be in general
- feet
g. Smoothly graded roadsides, re
served for future tree planting.
For the main roads of the system
the choice Of surfacrng seems to lie
between the sO-called oil macadam
tVUe and a concrete road with . hi