Ladysmith news-budget. [volume] (Ladysmith, Rusk County, Wis.) 1907-1927, 1914-07-24
THE ROAD PROBLEM
IN WISCONSIN
What Has Been and is Being Done
to Better the Public Roads OF
the State

to offset the expenditure for state
roads?
It is rather turning the wheel:
back many years to introduce a dis
cussion as to whether good roads
are worth while. Probably the cas-
lest way to answer this question
without going into too much detail
is to state that every civilized ma
ton has sooner or later found that
system of permanent roads was alb
solutely essential to its proper de-
velopment The movement swept Eu.
rope many years ago until today
there is no country in Europe which
has not an adequate system of ma
tional highways reinforced by a
system of local highways, and still
further down the line system of
highways in the smallest units of
| government. These three classes OF
| highways in almost every European
nation correspond quite closely to
a system of state roads, a system
of county roads, and system of
town roads in this state.
| Commencing in 1892, the states in
America took up permanent road
construction on a state basis, and
since that time one by one the states
have joined, until today there is state
aid in one form or another or an adj
visory state highway department in
fact that nation after nation and
state after state, has found it nee
essary and advisable to attack their
| highway problem on a large plan is
sufficient Indication of the fact
| that Wisconsin, whose wealth aver
ages well with that of other states,
| is justified in introducing such an ex-
pense. If there were no commercial,
economical and social advantages
produced sufficient to- more than off
set the expenditure, the European
nations would have ceased building
and maintaining their roads years
ago, and those states in the United
States which have taken up the
idea would have abandoned it.
AS a matter of fact, to our knowl-
edge, no state which ever took up a
state system of road construction has
ever abandoned it Except possibly
one for a two year period), and no
county which has ever built a large
mileage of permanent roads so that
it's people could appreciate their adj
vantageS has ever abandoned it.
This last statement is true in Wis
consin just as it is true in every
other state. The fact that road con-
struction is worth while is further
indicated by the very large amounts
collected and donated to the various
towns to induce or force them to
make certain badly needed improve
ments At a conservative estimate,
at least $175, 900 has been so donated
in subscriptions, and if the construc
ton of these roads did not produce
material advantages, it would have
scriptions.
CD Are the state roads we'll con-
structed?
We believe they are. We have
been careful to make surveys and
plans for practically all improve
ments and considered thoroughly the
ACCESSIBILITY of reducing grades by
making cuts and fills, or by making
relocations; have provided proper
drainage and proper culverts, and
have built proper guard rails where
the road was dangerous to travel.
Even where the road was to be only
a dirt road after completion, care
has been taken to so grade the road
that when the time comes to place
on it stone or other surfacing, no
change in the grades will be nee
essary. In other words, we have
made every effort to grade, drain
and culvert all roads so that this
work need not be done over again,
outside of the customary maintenance
necessary on all dirt roads.
| For surfaced roads in most cases
the best available local materials
have been used; they have been
built along the lines approved by
highway engineers throughout the
world, and surfaces have been pro-
duced which will compare favorably
with those produced in any other
state. The Wisconsin Highway Com
mission has been careful to utilize
local material as far as possible, as
this material produced the cheapest
road to build and usually the cheap
est road to maintain. Outside of an
instance of unsuccessful work here
and there, which would be bound to
happen on the 100 different pieces
of road built during the last two
years, l believe we can confidently
saw that the character of the work