The Birmingham age-herald., 1913-06-14
PLANNING ROUTES
FOR TRUNK HIGHWAY
SYSTEM OVER STATE
CONTINUED from Page One)


of the journey, between Montgomery and
Clanton, the scouting party experienced
little difficulty, though a bad stretch of
road was encountered in crossing small
portion of Autauga county.
Before reaching Clanton the scouts
passed Verbena. Cooper and other places
alcns the road, though the first stop was
made at the county seat of Chiffon.
The road between Clanton and Thorsby
is In good condition, the seven miles be-
tween these two places, having been driven
IN about IA minutes. Between Thorsby
ana Calera, however, the road was the
poorest encountered upon the entire trip
Some ugly places We're passed, and oc-
casionaly it looked as if the machine
might get stalled, but Chauffeur o. T.
Barr. the representative of the Buick
Automobile company. from whom Mr..
Keller secured the car, had little diff
fictlty in pulling out of trouble. and the
distance to Calera was covered without
accident.
Leaving Calera at II 80 the party speed
along the only piece of state-aid road
that lies between Montgomery and Bir-
mingham. This road is good for a dis
tance of about five miles, but towards
Pelham it again gets rocky. However.
Shelby county is at present working this
stretch of road, and indications are that
1t will be in good condition within the
next few months.
Will jefferson Beat Shelby?
The activity of Jefferson and Shelby
counties in working the Birmingham
Montgomery road towards their county
line has inspired some one to ask which
of these counties win first reach the goal
Shelby is busy grading the road between
Saginaw and Pelham, and Jefferson coun-
ty has force of convicts at work on the
t1Sl< rebuilding ba & 10 ba "a
haba river.
But whether Jefferson or Shelby first
reaches the county line, it cannot be
questioned that the Jefferson county road
from the river to Birmingham is consid-
erably better than any equal distance of
road to be encountered in Shelby county
The principal defect In the jefferson
county road is now being remedied by
means of the large force of convicts which
are at work about eight or 10 miles be-
low the city. Their task consists in re
grading the road and this is being done
with the greatest speed possible. When
the work is finished. hills that have here
tofcre been almost impossible by teams
with heavy loads will have been reduced
to a gradual grade, the steepest ascent
not being greater than per cent.
Keller Pleased With Work
Both Engineer Keller and Captain Craft
expressed themselves as pledSeO with the
the work that Jefferson county is doing in
the reconstruction of the road from Bir-
minghaTn to the Cahaba river. AL
though a gigantic undertaking. the board
OF revenue of the county has tackled the
task with the utmost complacency. Grades
that are almost mountainous in their
slope are being leveled down. Tops are
being taken off the hills and removed to
the bottom of the ascent. and when the
work is completed 1t will probably be
considered one of the greatest achieve-
ments in road building in the state.
Mr.. Keller and Captain Craft inspected
closely the work that is being done on
the Jefferson county road, and the two
members of the highway commission each
complmented the Jefferson board of reve-
nue. on the success SO far accomplished.
The state scouting party will leave Bir-
mingham this morning for Decatur,
where they will spend Sunday. An early
start will be made Monday morning for
Florence, from which place the party
VIII strike across the state to Huntsville
From Huntsville. the trip will proceed
to Gadsden and Admission, and from An
niston Mr. Keller and his party will
double back to Birmingham reaching
here about next Thursday afternoon.
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