Las Vegas optic., 1914-06-23
OCEAN TO OCEAN
HIGHWAYS ARE
near FACT
COLONEL A. l. wEsTcARD, PIo-
NEER ROAD BUILDER, MAKES
PROMISING FORECAST


something to say of road building. In
the brief time that he could spare for
the purpose he told the man on the
street for The Optic more than could
be CLEANED from books in a year,
about the big work of transcontinental
highway undertakings, the money and
labor and patience and farsighted cal
culation involved. No less gigantic
than was connecting the Atlantic and
Pacific oceans by rail. is the job OF
gridironing the country from shore to
shore with well made and well kept |
roadways. and from many angles the
latter is more battling.
Colonel Westgard said, in part:
"The United States has approx
mately 100000 miles of highways.
Not one mile can yet be called ma
tional highway. State highways are
relatively short-probably well under
5 per cent of the total. Therefore
over 95 per cent of our roads are con-
trolled by counties or local communi-
ties. The building of $4,000 miles of
national highways may seem revo-
lutionary idea; yet this is but little
more than per cent of our total road
mileage. France has a national high
ways system which comprises per
cent of the total mileage. France
holds a preeminent place among all
nations in the excellence of her roads.
"The National Highways association
presents tentative plan for $4,000
mile system of national highways.
They have not been located because
it would be a good thing to have
road here Neither do they follow
a ruler across the continent, gong
through mountains and across lakes
with the certainty and ease that GER
tain proposed roads have been made
to appear to 60 On the contrary they
are being carefully located by exper.
fenced road engineers. This proposed
system serves directly over 66 per
cent of the population of the country,
both rural and urban The population
in adjoining counties is 26 per cent
1t connects the capitals and all i'm
portant cities and thus serves and ad-
joins 92 per cent of our total popula-
ton. No accurate estimate of the
cost of this system of national high
ways can be given without actual sur
veys. 1t is probable that $4,000 a
mile would be very liberal average
costa total of $5O0,0OO,OOO.
1.-THE National Highways association
does not advocate park boulevards.'
Good, substantial, we'll built roads
which will bear the traffic required of
them at all seasons of the year, and
which will be constantly maintained
In first class condition, will be the
most useful to the greatest number
of people. Such roads should not
average over $1,000 per mile-a total |
of s250,OO0,O0O.
"All attempts to develop national
roads by first building local roads have
failed. Not until trunk lines we're
built was there any material advance
in road building. These trunk lines
brought about the desire for and
building of the local feeder lines. |
Otherwise there was no desire or rea-
SON for the existence of such local
feeders. Branch railroad lines were
built after the trunk lines were es-
tablished-otherwise they could not
have existed.
while discrimination as between
districts is neither wise nor fair.
nevertheless If any should be favored
by road building it is the farming and
rural districts. They need roads more
than the urban centers; and what is
more, they need to build them They
cannot of themselves furnish the
needed Iunda How cun tney De given
the roads they must haye9 How can
this be done most quickly and cheap
ly? National highways advocates
claim that the rural districts will get
their needed roads. from railroads and
market towns to farms. more easily,
quickly and cheaply by the building of
national highways than by any federal
aid plan. The claim is made because:
(a) such system of national high
ways win likewise be the heavy traf-
fie. main trunk lines within the sew
eraI states. This will relieve the
states OF their construction and main
tenance; (b) thus relieved the states
can. without increase Of present ap-
propriations. build more miles than
now Of secondary state highways.
thereby reaching more remote farm
ing districts than are now. reached:
fe1 such system Of state highways
will likewise be the heavy traffic