Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1913-09-04
ROAD WORK Of US.
H|NDERED BY LAWS
Cooperation With States in
Highway Construction
Is Difficult.

Progress was reported to Congress to-
day in a joint document submitted by
the Secretary of Agriculture and the
Postmaster General on the cooperation
i'll road building between the federal
government and the several states, This
was in connection with the expenditure
of half a million dollars appropriated by
Congress a little over a year ago for the
Improvement of such rural free delivery
routes as the Postmaster General might
select.
The arrangement was that the money
should be spent i'm the proportion of one
dollar of government money to two dol
lars of state funds The object was the
Improvement of the rural free delivery
service to the post Office and reduction
OF its cost The technical investigation
of the subject was left to the Office of
public roads of the Department of Agr-
culture.
States Response Not Quick.
The response of the states to the offer
of the general government was not so
quick as it might have been and the
offer of the money was extended for a
year, until finally expended. During the
first year only Alabama and Iowa re-
sponded to the offer. but there are sew
eral sections of road in various states.
either definitely decided on or actually
under construction. There are now thir-
ty mites in Alabama. twenty-six in Mis-
sissippi fifty in Minnesota. fifty in Ore
gon, six in Maryland and thirty-nine in
Virginia. The money for road improve
ment in Virginia was split so that there
is not only the section of thirty-nine
miles from Richmond to Spotsylvania,
but an additional twelve miles between
Alexandria and Pohick Church. The
thirty-nine-mile section is a part of the
road under construction from Richmond
to Washington, and will cost about
$4,000. That in Maryland is a little
section from Rockville southwest to the
town of Potomac, a little settlement
near the Potomac river.
Cooperation Handicapped.
The investigation of the cooperative
road building between the federal govern
ment and the several states has shown
the Office of public roads many things
that it did not appreciate before in the
matter of the utter impossibility of CO.
operation between the states and the
general government under the present
system of laws.
The department is not yet ready to
recommend to Congress any definite sys-
tenn for national road construction, but
this phase of the matter will be treated
in the final report and it is expected
10 be the most important document on
road building that has ever been issued
in this country.
The investigation so far has shown
the department that with the existing
state laws and the work of road improve
ment in the hands of the counties and the
local road supervisors it is impossible
to get anything extensive or effective ac-
complished.
National Road Suggested.
when Congress is sufficiently awakened to
the needs of the case it may be pos
sible to institute system of national
highways running across the several
states, about three transcOntinental roads
east and west and as many north and
south. These would be built partly with
government money and partly with state
money and the annual maintenance Sc
cured in the same way.
1t is pointed out by the road office
that 1t is impossible to accomplish any
thing without Capitalization of road
United States. In this connection it is
said that New England is as big as old
England, New York and Pennsylvania
as big as France, and Texas, Montana
and several other of the western states
as big as any country in Europe
Each one of these has road problem
as big and as complicated any Eu-
ropean country, and the Department of
Agriculture says the only way to effec-
lively handle the interstate road work
is to put it primarily under the control