The Manchester journal. [volume] (Manchester, Vt.) 1861-current, 1915-12-23

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The cost Of repairs during hat tim,
! would not exceed few hundred dol
lars, and the road--although il ha.
had particularly hard usage--is still
in excellent condition A road Of that
kind, however, if not properly built al
the start, is no. only unsatisfactory
but requires heavy maintenance
charges in order 10 make is reasonably
passable. Ii is therefore evident that
In order to secure any satisfactory re-
suits in road building in community
like ours, there should be some proper
system of road building and mainten-
ance which would enable the town tn
lay out definite plan of work for a
number of years ahead, and work
along this plan as funds were pro-
vided, laying aside il necessary GER
tain amounts from year to year, in
order to provide for some special piece
of work when sufficient funds were
accumulated to do it properly. The
present system which obtains in our
town is probably about as bad sys-
tenn as could be well devised for mod
ern conditions. Two road commission
ers are elected yearly for different
parts of the town. No salary is paid
and no special experience is required.
1t is enough that the road commits
sioner is reasonably good fellow and
wants the job. In order to secure sat
isfactory results, a road commissioner
should be selected who has sufficient
knowledge and experience to under
stand how to meet the modern prob
lens Of road building. The office
should be permanent during satisfac-
tory work on the part of the commits
sioner, and under such plan the man
should be able to plan out the work
ahead, and the town and state author
tiles would feel that when funds were
provided, they would be wisely and eff
fectively spent.
1t has often seemed to me that it |
would be very wise plan if the Sc
lectmen were made responsible for the
roads in The town, and given the pow
err to appoint a road commissioner,
thus taking the Office out of the annual
town election, and making the COM
missioner directly responsible to the
selectmen, who in turn are respon-
sible to the town.
One more point, and this Of the ut
most importance,-that is, the main
tenance. 1t is poor economy to spend
money on the improvement Of roads,
and then neglec. the necessary work
of maintenance. Take, for example,
the road between Bennington and
Wiliamstown. During the last few
years this road has been greatly i'm
proved. Already, however, the south
ern end of the road in the town of
Bennington shows lack of proper
maintenance. A few loads of gravel
applied, as .ney become nee
would keep this road in excel
lent condition, and he maintenance
eosl would be comparatively small
Instead, however, of this constant
work at small expense,
the roads are allowed to go for years,
or until heavy ru.s are worn,--be-
fore they are attended to- Then they
are fixed over again at very consid-
cradle expense. If the system such as
suggested in the previous paragraphs !.
were adopted, good road commits
;ioner would see to it that, wherever >
'u.s began to form or depressions in
he surface which hold water after J
'oaiH, such ruts or depressions were
lied with gravel. The president of
he Village Of Old Bennington has =
adopted this system during the past d
car, and the roads in that village re- =
pended Immediately 20 such treat II
nent. A little neglect in the mainten- =
nee of road involves either ruin of "
he road, or heavy repair cost. In d
his connection it would be very easy a.
t a comparatively small expense, to
rrange a system Of road patrol,
hereby certain portion of road 4
hould be put under the inspection of
Dmeone residing on that road, whose
uty it would be to see that minor re-
airs were made after a heavy rain,
r if unusual repairs were required,
sport the same Immediately 20 the l.
1t can readily be seen
lat such a system would involve COM
ardtively small expense, and with a
tile care could be made wonderfully
licient for the maintenance of the
ghways.
do not know tina. these suggestions
i'll be Of any value to you, but | in
inc to think that they are worth con-
Iteration.
Very truly yours,
(Signed) JAS c. Colgate.