The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1913-04-14
GOOD ROADS IN NEW ENGLAND

The bill now pending in the Con nectfcut Legislature calling for an 1s-
 sue of bonds to the extent of $5,00O, 900 for the building of six trunk line roads on concrete foundations, to-
 gether with the construction and main tenance of roads now in progress, necessdtates. improved 4-- methods of hauling the material for these roads.
 For years this work has been done by carts and wagons, but there have been two serious objections to this method, one being the heavy cost or hauling rock and other material in this manner; and the other, the wear and tear on the roads over which these carts Or wagons have to travel. In respect to the latter, 1t was found
 that the construction of new roads tended to increase the cost of main taining old roads.
 Investigation of this phase of road building by certain municipalities led to the suggestion that the manage ment Of the Connecticut Company ar range to haul this material over it's trolley lines without affecting the ef- ficiency of it's passenger traffic, ana l thereby effect a great saving in hauI- | ing charges and relief to the roads from heavy haulage to the states and cities through which it's lines operate. In order to handle the business of l this character, the Connecticut Com pany was compelled to put into ser vice its old work dump cars. It did 1 this with considerable misgiving, how ever, owing to the unsightly appear ance these cars presented. At the suggestion of the Public Utilities Commission, the company has now ordered a new type of multiple body
 dump car for hauling this material These cars will not only do away with the disagreeable sight the dump cars now in use present, but are so constructed that one car will do the work that requires four Of the oid style or work dump cars. The first order the company put in consisted or
 five of these multiple body dump cars, but a subsequent order has been placed for fourteen more, making total of nineteen, costing $15S,oOo
 Each car will have four compart- ments any one of which may be emp tied independent of the others.
 This order represents but one fea-- t11re of the countrywide movement for good roads, which has been nov ing with such impetus that a system of national highways has been pro posed aggregating over 5O,OOO miles or
 government roads, which would cost to construct at least $50,00O, 900 a year during the next decade. This system covers every state in the Union. It was recently estimated that the total expenditures within the next quarter century for roads would amount to $25, ,0O0, 900 900. While it Is 1nposSrp!e for any one to make a correct est- mate in this subject, yet It. Is sfgnlh- cant that this estimate has been re- ceived in a matter of fact way, where as ten years ago 1t would nave oeeh ridicu1ed or denounced
 New England has not been pen1no the rest of the country in learning that the building of good roads VIII materially reduce the cost of living in every branch. Government stat1s- tics show that the average haul or farm products in the United States IS 94 miles. and that the average cost per ton per mile over American twenty three cents, which compares with an average cost of eight cents per ton mile in Holland. Taking the -94 miles as an average, the loss to
 Americans when compared With the conditions in Holland amounts to S1A on every ton of produce raised ana marketed in this country
 There are 2,115,Oo0 miles of hignway in the United States, of which 155,0O0 have been improved, leaving nearly 2 Ooo 900 miles of road in poor condt- ton. Over 25, ,O0O,0 600 horses and mules are used over these 100000 miles of road outside Of the zone of paved streets Tt is not surprising that the good roads movement has become so popular.
 One of the greatest difficulties en- countered in constructing and re- making roads is hauling facilities. It was to overcome to degree this diff fcuItv that the Connecticut Company was called upon to make use of it's tracks for hauling the material used in road making.
 The lamp committee will hold
 ho11