Oxford Democrat. [volume] (Paris, Me.) 1833-1933, 1912-11-19
Importance Of Road Maintenance.
PREVALENT AMERICAN POLICY, "rIx
AND FORGET" Is RurNous.

AND FORGET" Is RUTNoUs.
uoesn waller Page, Director Of the ONCE OF
Pubic Roads, Q: 9. Departmental sricuisure'
In Worlds Work.
More important than the actual cost
of building roads is provision Tor tne'r
continuous maintenance. In Europe,
road once built is kept 10 constant state
of perfection. In our country, however,
It 10 rarely touched after 1t Is built. This
neglect with rs Is not due to any lack OF
knowledge In our engineers, but to the
ignorance of the public, which prompts
them to limit their appropriations TO
construction only. II we would only
adopt o patrol system such as France
has, by which every five or six miles OF
road is under the care of one man who
Is responsible for its condition at all
times, probably not more than 20 per
cent OF our roads would require actual
construction.
We should, therefore, begin our re-
form with maintenance, and resort to
construction only when Investigation
shows that harder surface Ia necessary.
We can never hope to have all our roads
surfaced with hard materials; such
step would not only require more money
than we can afford to spend, but would
be unnecessary. For about 20 per cent
of the roads Of any district carry about
80 per cent of the traffic. II then We
could construct the 20 per cent Of i'm
portant roads as rapidly as funds would
permit, and maintain all roads by the
patrol system, every requirement would
be met. And this is not a fanciful idea.
There are few counties in this country
whore the patrol system of maintenance
could not be adopted at the present an
nusl expenditure and give vastly better
results. The Office of Public Roads Of
the United States Department of Agri-
culture is willing at all times to demon
strate this fact to any reasonable mum
Der OF counties for the asking.
u. e. Penny backer, Jr.. Secretary Of the Ameri.
can Association for Highway Improvement
Aside from construction and traffic,
the maintenance of roads seems in most
cases to have been haphazard affair.
|. A year or two ago govern.
meut engineer reported on &c., 600 road
| in one of the southern states, built prop
erly and with due regard to conditions
prevailing but allowed absolutely to go
to ruin for lack OF maintenance. This Ia
one of many thousand cases. American
engineers are equal to any In the world.
Our methods of construction are abreast
of the latest and best of any land, and in
labor saving machinery and equipment
for the construction OF roads America
leads the world. The rock crusher,
which has supplanted the old laborious
method of breaking rock with hammer,
is the invention of an American. 1t Ia
in our woful lack Of maintenance that
we lag behind every other civilized ma
ton. Our county officials seem to think
that good road is everlasting and proof
against the ravages of traffic and the ele.
ments. France maintains her supremacy
as good roads nation by her tireless,
watcbful care OF her roads. Every mile
of her main roads is inspected daily and
every defect repaired as soon as 1t occurs
What is needed in every county is skilled
supervision and we'll trained road force
which will make its whole object In life
the care and betterment of the public
roads. Systematic and continuous main
tenance is absolutely the key to system
of good roads.
In Alexandria County, Va, the travel.
or, after foundering about through
heavy mud, finds himself on smooth
well-kept ten mile stretch OF earth road
composed of the same materials as the
other roads but otherwise bearing NJ
resemblance. He sees workman
steadily cleaning out the bitches, filling
up depressions, cutting weeds, and, Al
one side, split log drag which has just
been used on the road. This is 'de
monstration road" on which the United
States Office of Public Roads is giving 6
thorough test to the patrol system o.
maintenance. The caretaker gives hil
whole time to the work, and to him tht
road is pet, child, upon which h'
layishes his whole attention. To him Il
represents his life work, for he Is ex
pected to live near the road and to give
his service to 1t every day. Such care
lepgthens the life of the road and re
duces the burden of taxes, for such 9
road is everlasting and does not have t.
be rebuilt.
There is no doubt that the public de
sires good roads. From one end of thu
country to the other the demand is insist
emit.
The knowledge of how to build road
and what kind OF road to build t
meet any given condition may be bad To-
the asking from the government.
An understanding of maintenance II
the great problem-an understanding
not only among road builders but among
all tax payers, for once they see the saw
ling OF proper maintenance they will Sc,
that their roads are profitable.