Bismarck daily tribune. [volume] (Bismarck, Dakota [N.D.]) 1881-1916, 1914-04-15
SHOULD COST OF A HIGHWAY De
FIGURED IN THE FIRST YEAR
on IN THE goth YEAR?
NV Wiu r. elair.

UCAS, JdAlCO INV OOik SNSSi ~ ~
road managers some time ago by as.
sorting that a million dollars a day
are wasted by the railroads in in
sufficient management. The debate
that ensuod has perhaps never reach
ed any definite conclusion, but it has
had tsle effect Of calling to the atten-
ton Of the railroad world as we'll rs
the shipping and consuming world to
one simple fact
1t is net alone how much money
you get but what you do with it that
determines Your prosperity.
Good road advocates for Is years
past have exhausted taeir ingenuity
and their efforts in the raising of re-
venue for road building. They have
given America the impression that
If sufficient money is forthcoming for
good roads. the highway question is
solved.
Meanwhile events in New York
and almost every other state in the
union suggest this report from the
public, GLOW have you scpent the
money that you have raised in the
past?' ". &E
Millions Are Wasted.
~ IL cannot. be claimed that road.
builders have wasted a million dol
lars a day Or anything like that sum.
1t cannot be denied that there is a
need of greatly increased road revea.
ue, but the surest way to get road
revenue is to deserve it, and the
surest way to deserve it is to be able
to show that it has been 50 expend.
ed as TO produce dollar for dollar the
value that it represents.
Take Elements to Account.
TO do this two elements must he
taken into account, first cost and per
maaency as we'll as a constant u.s.
able condition. The cardinal mistake
made by a large number of road Of
ficials is that of counting the cost
| of a road Us soon as it is laid with
no reckoning OF its out OF repair con.
dition. Gov. Glynn Of New York rid
dies this policy in his recent good
roads message to the legislature. 1t
is the cost at the end of ten or TWEEN.
ty years that should be the criterion.
He says:
"New York is engaged in building
IL, 600 miles CT road. which will wear
out forty years before they are paid
for. -.
"Unless the state makes a radical
change in the type of road it builds;
it will cost from $4,000, 600 to $780,
200. 900 yearly to maintain and re-
build New York's highways when the
present system is completed.
"This is the real highway problem.
"It costs lew York approximate
ly $12. 900 to build a mile Of macad-
am road which, Hinder present traffic
conditions. will not last more than
ten years. At costs a thousand dol
lars a year to maintain. and resur.
,acn these macadam roads. And, at
the end of ten years, whel these
~cads are Worn out, it will cost at
least. IS 900 a mile to rebuild Them"
The governor points out that in
terest and sinking fund charges on
previous bond issues will amount to
$500, 900 per year, besides the cost
Of maintenance and, at the end OF
ten years, the state will have little
C show for it's expenditure. Either
the road policy of the state must be
changed, he asserts, or the state fac
IS a taxation charge equal to 81 for
>ver.;, man. woman and child in the
state. ,
The Root Of Trouble.
The root of the trouble, the COVER
nor says, is the fact that New York
followed the lead of Massachusetts,
in building macadam roads which
were admirably adapted for the light,
h%orse-drawn traffic of the nineties.
but utterly untitled to Withstand the
neavy auto traffic OF the present day.
The remedy lies in recourse to hard
surface. roads, among which he pre-
fers brick. as the only material which
has demonstrated its ability to with
stand the test of time. The first cost
of such roads. he contends, might be
100000 per mile as against $4,000
tor macadam. He adds: %
even If New York were COMPEL
I'd to pay $25. 1000 per mile for brick
roads it would be economy to build
,uch roads instead of macadam roads