The record., 1913-03-20
8 ROAD
IMPROVEMENT
BOOST FOR GOOD ROADS LAW
Much Interest Shown at Meeting Held
At Bloomington. iII.-Many I'm
provements Are Made.

When little country town OF 700
people raises $4,000 to put in con-
crete pavement around the square.
1t is sure sign that the good roads
germ is active there. This is what
the people of Mclean. In Mclean
county, ILL.,. have done. Now they
have hard pavement the year around
where before the mud was frequently
so deep that 1t was unsafe for man
to get out of the buggy to tie his
horse
The good roads germ has been
working in several places in Mclean
county. Just outside of Mclean is a
still In good condition after eight
years of service. Leading southwest
from bloomington is a stretch of the
finest country road in the state-as-
phalt-bound macadam. Out little
farther on the same road a mile or
two of water bound maeadam is be-
Ing put in. Next year the plan is To
lay mile OF concrete road. Nor does
the effort stop with the attempt to
get satisfactory hard roads. There
are drained, well crowned, well
dragged earth roads everywhere
roads that good care has made as per-
feet as an earth road can be-
These We're some of the things that
members of the Illinois Highway I'm
provement association and others saw
on n hurried visit to Mclean county
November 30. They came on invita-
tion of Eugene Funk. a member OF
the state highway commission. says
the Prairie Farmer. They went away
more determined than ever to carry
the fight for improved roads to a sue
cessful finish.
In talk at the evening meeting
President Edens of the highway i'm
provement association stated that
The association was not organized pri-
marily in the interests Of automo-
h''cs. 1T for the best interests Of the
sre" a .
y }radt of Deksib cou, ". road
commissioner, said that Lfs townshi .
has put in an average OF two miles
of macadam roads per year for the
past seven years. at cost of about
$4,000 a mile. This money was taken
nut of the regular road funds. This
year a mile of concrete read was put
IN. Mr. Brajt believes that this will
prove the coming material for hard
roads. as macadam roads need repair
ing all too frequently.
State Highway Engineer Johnson
stated that il two per cent. of the
-oads in Illinois were paved these
hard roads would reach all cities of
5000 or more inhabitants. with possi
ply one exception; would reach most
OF the cities of 1000 or more: and
would serve four-fifths of the through
traffic needs Of the state. He advo-
Gated using the automobile license
fund to make a start OF such a sys-
TEN.
c. s. Miller of Alexander county
stated that the people in the southern
end of the state want the state to
build the main roads, this to be fol-
lowed by county Improvement of the
other roads, with perhaps some help
from the state. They also advocate
he use of convict labor on the roads
and the abolishment of two-thirds Of
the present number of highway COM
missioners.
lie was followed by Mr.. Donovan OF
the Highway Commissioners associa-
ton. He said that the commission
ers do not wish to block all changes
of the present laws. but they do want
fair treatment. He stated that much
more would be accomplished under
the present system II the commits
sioners had more money.
There is probably no man In Illinois
who knows more about the road uues-
ton than Homer c. Tice. chairman OF
the legislative good roads committee.
His committee has devoted much
q time to investigating the problem
from every possible angle. and is pre-
pairing a very comprehensive report
4 to back up the bill which 1t will in
troduce into the legislature. Some of
the best information received by the
, committee was from the rural mail
carriers of the state. Answers to the
questions sent out by the committee
! were received from 1850 carriers.