Eastern Colorado times., 1913-04-18
GOOD ROADS FOR
COLORADO

The agitation and the pending leg.
islation concerning good roads for
the State of Colorado, is a very desir-
able condition of affairs, and some
thing which should be pushed.
1t has been said that the roads or n
country indicate the enlightenment
and progressiveness of the inhabi-
tants. Much money has been spent
in the past repairing the roads we
have. These repairs were necessary,
but too often the repairs have been
only of temporary nature. This
system has proved very costly, and
much money has been wasted, with
the result that the roads after few
years were in as bad condition as
they were before repairs were made.
The greatest economy in road build
ing is in construction that is of a per-
manent nature. When a bridge or
cul rert is made, it is far better to put
double the amount of money into the
construction of new one and have
it permanent, than the temporary re-
pairs that are usually made.
Colorado is big state The road
milage in Colorado is tremendous
and the one thing that will be pos
sible at the present time, with the
cash available, is to construct up-to-
4, +r n, ,tl, ,,ool, laoy;p,ro cuff;.;apt
fund for the maintainance of the same
so that small force of worlsmen
may be constantly kept on these
roads to keep them in good repair.
In years gone by, it has been the
custom to properly build road and
then leave it for years until the travel,
wind and rains have done their work
aud the road eisintegrates and be-
comes almost impossible, then it is
again placed in good condition ut u
second heavy expense. Had the re-
pairs on this road been kept up con-
tinually, less than half the amount
would have been required to keep the
road continually in good condition for
the same number of years, and the
last state of the road would be better
than the first.
Paving and macadam country roads
for Colorado are out OF the question
ut this time. The ordinary water
bound macadam road for Colorado
would be, on account OF the dry eli
mate, q failure from the very start
1t is not the rain and mud that road
builders in Colorado must contend
with, it is the wind that does damage
to the roads. The wagon wheels
powder the earth and form dust and
then "gentle zepher' from the west
picks up the dust and carries it for
miles, leaving ruts and holes in the
road, these gradually enlarge, more
dust is formed and another wind car
ries it away and then the roads are
gradually worn away.
The number of days in the year
that we have muddy roads are com
paratively few and, If road is prop
erly crowned and side drainage fur
nished, mud is Il factor that can be
disregarded.
Another thing that the citizens OF
Colorado must remember, is that road
building and maintenance is eXpen-
sive. True it pays and pays we'll to
have good roads, but when we have a
fund OF 81 100000 or 81, 100000 for
road construction and the commits
sioners or officers in charge of this
fund use 1t for road purposes, we
must be careful and not make the
mistake in thinking that this fund
should build roads from one end ol
the country to the other. 1t will not
do it and no commission can make it,
and when we find that they have not
been able to accomplish it we mus,
not jump rt the conclusion. that graf
exists and that the commissioner is
not doing all.that is nossible.s