The Bennington evening banner. (Bennington, Vt.) 19??-1961, 1912-08-23
Be HGTON COUNTY
VERMONT IMPROVEMENT
ASSOCIATION NEWS

D. H. Winslow, the government
engineer, in a conference at the Ben
nington County Vermont Improve
ment Association office, has given us
the following data regarding the
Improvement of roads in Bennington
( County
There are five big projects that are
undertaken in this county, gigantic
tasks. not boy play, as Mr.. Wins
low says. OF course, IN addition to
this there are innumcrable smaller
undertakings TO improve the roads
that are now going on and which now
look as ii Bennington County will
be the banner county in the state, as
far as roads are concerned.
The following gre the five big pro-
4 iects: first, the removal Of the ledge
at East Dorset This work was done
by Il. r. Harwo0d, road commission
er of East Dorset, and is one CT the
finest pieces of gravel roads we have
in Bennington county. Prior to its
construction the road was narrow
and it was impossible for an automo-
( bile driver to see fifty feet ahead and
afforded a death trap for unwary
tourists. The removal Of the ledge
gives a clear view OF the road for a
quarter of a mile and the material
removed from there has been used to
improve and widen narrow and dan
Eerous place on the same road. Pic
lures were taken of the road before
/ Improvement and afterward and it
| is anticipated that they will be pub
/ lished in lne state highway commits
sioners report for the year as an
example OF what Bennington county
/ is doing for road improvement. The
second big project is
! Hill Reduction at So. SALISBURY
which is within a week time OF
completion. This section w-s built
/ by Simeon Dean, selectm2n of
SALISBURY, and involves the reduc-
ton of a 10 Il per cent grade TO Z
per cent. Much heavy traffic goes
over this road as it is the outlet Tor
the SALISBURY farmers to the Ben
nington markets. With the construc-
ton of this road and the improve /
ment that is to follow on Harwood
Hin it will be possible to double I
the load that is now hauled over the
road. Mr. Dean has the reputation
of being one of the best road build
ers in the county and has the credit .
of having built the smoothest piece .
of road in the county. The third ,
project is the construction of the
Readsboro Horse Shoe Bend,
near Hartwellyille This is the .
most spectacular piece OF road work
Yet attempted in the State of Yer 4
mont. The scenic features mark it .
as one of the sights of Bennington
county. The road is laid out to give .
clear view OF the Green Mountains .
extending to Mr.. Greylock in Massa-
chusetts. The road is laid out with
a complete system of side drains and
under drains so that after heavy
showers it does not show the least
indication of mud The road has
been well handled by John f. Car
rier, road commissioner, who has
complete charge of the work and not
only built well. but very economically.
Probably no man in the county has
made a better showing for the amount
of money involved that the road com
missioner of Readsboro. Since its
construction travel has increased ten
fold and the hotels are doing a larger
business in ReadsborO
SO well pleased are the people with
this section ana so well pleased is
the stare highway commissioner q
private citizens have ADDED TO the
work by donation and the state high
way commissioner has also contrib
uted additional funds for continuing
this type OF work. Mr. Plunkett is
setting fine example for our wealthy
summer people. He has given $500
toward the project, but he did not
give until he found it was to be a No.
/ road The fourth project is the
construction of the
Harwood Hill At Bennington.
Second in magnitude to the Reads
boro work is the construction of the
Harwood Hill at Bennington. This
has always Deen considered one OF
the bugbears of the tour through Yer
mont The Harwood Hill route is
22 miles shortened by way of North
Bennington. and when improved will
materially shorten the time to Rut-
land and other points in Vermont. 4,
II is only through the corporations
of the citizens of Bennington town
and the state together with the
Board of Trade that this project has
been undertaken. Politics have been
entirely dropped with the one idea of
placing Bennington county as one of
the banner counties of the Good
Roads movement. The plans and
profles have been completed and
the contract drawn up and awaits
only the signature of the state high
way commissioner before actual con
struction will begin. IL is expected
that construction will begin next
week and that long before snow flies
the people will be enjoying the ad-
yantages that the increased travel
Of the rnad will inNnINn na u.nn ~