The San Francisco call., 1913-08-17
DELEGATES WILL
SWARM To GOOD
%
ROADS MEET |NC
Detroit Prepares to Receive
Large Delegations for
American Highway
Congress
ROAD BETTERMENT
WILL BE CHIEF TOPICI

Most elaborate are the preparations
being made in Detroit to entertain the
thousands Of delegates who will attend
tie thfrd annual American road con-
gress. to be held September 20 to Oc-
tobers next The greatest attendance
of delegates and of good roads workers
from every state of the union and from
congress. Reports from all sections of
the country tell of large parties COM
ing, and conservative estimates point to
IN attendance which will be several
times as large as that of last years
congress at Atlantic City, when more
than 1000 delegates were registered
and several thousand other people in
terested in good roads were present.
q Active work must be done by the vari-
Gus committees 10 provide accommoda-
tions for the party. and all committee
chairmen have now been appointed to
look after the various branches OF the
labor.
The general chairman of all commit
tees will be Roy d. Chaplin, president
of the Hudson Motor Car company, and
the general treasurer will be Charles
r. Talbot of the National Bank of
Commerce. The state reception COM
mittee will have as chairman Philip T.
Colgrove, president OF the Michigan
state Good Roads association and the
chairman of the city reception commit
tee will be James Couzens, secretary
and treasurer of the Ford Motor COM
pany and president of the Detroit
Board of Commerce. The entertain
nent committee will be in charge of
2 William r. Orr, prominent in the
Board of Commerce and in all Detroit
social organizations as an expert in his
field.
. e. Leroy Pelletier is chairman and F.
Ed Spooner is secretary of the press
and publicity committee. and Edward N
Hines, county road commissioner. is
CHAIRMAN. and Milton Carmichael of the
DETROIT convention bureau is secretary
OF fire general arrangements commit
tee- The halls and meeting places will
be arranged for by a committee, of
(which Edwin s. George is chairman and
Horado 5. Earle, the great good roads
worker, will be chairman of the ex-
hibits committee
The finance committee will have as
chaignlan William E. Metzger and Rob-
ert K. Davis will be secretary of this
committee. Representatives of the
American Highway association. Michi-
gan State Good Roads association, the
american Automobile association. and
Alit -NdlAOHdt ASSONAdllOu Ol IOdu Ma
chinery and Material Manufacturers
ahawe. been in Detroit recently in con-
nectioB with work for the congress. All
have spoken of the intense interest of
all good roads workers of the country
in this congress.
'swaterhound macadam roads, which
for practically a century have been ade-
uuape for the traffic, have now. under
the new conditions, become obsolete
and their further construction means
serious waste of public funds is the
op1nioE of former President Lewis r.
Speare .of the American Automobile as
socfation.
Macadam may answer for side roads
and cross roads where there is little
frayeJ to wear the surface into dust
and a: few fast moving vehicles to
THROW the dust into the air to be blown
awsSs Butt for main roads. anywhere
and everywhere, a method Of construc-
ation must be put in operation which
will produce durable roads.
Wherever 1t can be used concrete
makes most excellent road or a base
for somes other kind of surface. The
state Of: California has adopted con-
crete construction for practically its
entire system of state highways. after
omost thorough investigation. Wayne
county, Mich, has been building con-
thev.s have given most excellent salts
faction.
Before the Wayne county authorities
had learned by experience how to build
concrete roads with expansion joints to
prevent the concrete from cracking in
cold weather and buckling in the hot
sun, several miles of roads were built
which broke into frequent cracks. To
repair these cracked sections of road
they poured hot bitumlnous material
into the cracks and covered them with
sand. This has worn to the level of
the concrete and the whole forms a
most delightfully."- smooth road to travel
over, saild one which looks as IL 1t
would stand for a generation at least
I'm some sections of the country the
concrete is being used as base, and
two or three inches of broken stone,
mixed with bituminous materials put
on for a surface. If properly built this
kind of road should be very durable
and should justify the additional ex-
pense. The concrete will furnish the
strength required to hold up the loads
which are constantly growing heavier,
while the bituminized surface will pre-
vent the creation of dust, making the
road pleasant to travel over.
The only proper way to figure on
the cost of road is to consider both
the original cost and the expense of
maintenance for a period of 10 to 15
years. Under present conditions Of
travel a macadam road would have to
be resurfaced every two or three years
and would be in bad condition two
thirds of the time. The aggregate cost
would be far greater than that of
concrete road with a bituminous sur
face and the. latter would present
good road all the time.