Evening star., 1915-08-06
FAIRFAX T0LLGATE
CAUSES DISPUTE
Two Others Are to Be Placed
on New Roads Now
Building.
INCOME TO BE USED
TO UPKEEP THE Pixies
Objections to System of Finance
Meet With Arguments
in Its Favor.

| Good roads for Fairfax county, Va.
maintained largely at the expense OF
travellers from other communities are
| the cause of a red-hot row now going
on in the county: and although the
board of supervisors has placed one
gate and plans to place three others
SO as to catch all travellers to and from
| Washington. there is considerable op-
position to the plan.
| The argument in favor of tollgates,
which have been discarded by other
| communities as an archaic method OF
financing, is that the county cannot af-
ford to furnish up-to-date roads for
travellers without resorting TO the old
time system of taking toll from every
one on wheels.
| The assessable property of the coun-
!ty runs up beyond the tWo-mlllion
mark, it was asserted today, by man
In favor of tollgates. and residents OF
| the county who are opposed to the
gates believe that a slight increase in
the tax rate would give the county the
same good roads that other localities
| installed years ago.
| 1t has been pointed out that a neat
little sum for salaries has to be taken
out of the tollgate receipts before any
money can be spent on improvement Of
roads. The present tollgate at Oakton
and the three other proposed gates Will
have keepers at $50 a month. while the
supervisor for the district in which the
tolgates will be located receives IS a
day. amounting to approximately $4,000
in all per year.
The county supervisors believe that 1t
is better to collect toll money than to
zens who have been prominent in
bringing the tollgates into being frank
ly say they know that they are old
fashioned and unenlightened methods
of taxation, but that Fairfax county
cannot see any other method of raising
the funds, and that as soon as the roads
are in good shape the gates will be
abandoned.
Building Two Roads.
Fairfax county is engaged in the
construction of two macadam high
ways, which will connect the historic
town of Fairfax Court House with the
National Capital
The only tollgate now in operation
is located at the little hamlet of Oak
ton, Va, about midway between Vienna
and Fairfax Court House, on a portion
of the good macadamized roadway. A
busy spot it is these days. At least
it was Tuesday afternoon when the
automobile representative OF The Star
how the new tollgate was being patron
lied. There was plenty doing every
minute at the little gray-colored. one
story frame structure on the right
side of the road, just across from the
town grocery store
While it was stated that a majority of
the residents in the county favored the
esta blishment of tollgates for the pur-
pose of reimbursing the Golfers of the
county there is strong opposition on
the other hand from other. residents
not only of Fairfax county. but of
Alexandria county, which adjoins Fair
fax county, as well.
The lone tollgate at Oakton was put
into operation Sunday, July 25. and in
the nine days of it's operati the sum
of SIS had been collected in tolls and
had been deposited III bank at Fairfax
Court House. Tuesday. the receipts
days the traffic is heavier, and conse-
quently the receipts are larger than
during the week days. 1t is said that
the first three days this tollgate was in
those using the tolleate are of the
opinion that the toll is somewhat ex-
cessivc. although at the present time
the rate is about the same that
being exacted in the Shenandoah val
ley, where the charge is about cents
per mile.
Tollgate Charges.
The charges for various types OF We
hicles at the Oakton tollgate are as fol-
lows:
One horse, ridden or driven. cents.
Two-horse vehicle, 8 cents.
Three or four horse vehicle, 12 cents.
Each-additional horse, 4 cents
Passenger automobile, rs cents.
Motor cycles, 10 cents.
Freight autos not over rs horsepower,
25 cents.
Freight autos over 25 horsepower, IS
cents.
Traction engines. SO cents.
Above allows return without charges
same day.
Books of 100 tickets are sold for per-
sons driving single-horse teams, for
the sum Of 81. which reduces the cost
from cents for round trip to 2
cents. A fifty-ticket book good for
one year for automobile travel costs
So %, half the amount of tolls paid sepa-
rately. Many of the Washington mer-
compelled to pass over the road and
through the tollgate at Oakton have pur-
chased fifty ticket books.
John r. Burleigh has been appointed
tollkeeper at the Oakton gate. He re-
ceives $25 for the first month and after
| that time will receive $50 per month
He is expected to keep the gate in op-
GRAFTON from o'clock am. until pm
and Is also authorized to collect toll
outside of these hours, should he be on
the ground. He is very enthusiastic
over his appointment and endeavored
to keep everybody in good mood
while he was on the job Tuesday The
road is just wide enough for two We
hicles to pass in front Of the house,
but he manages to collect all that is
coming to him and no one gets by
without paying. On the trip to Fairfax
Court House be issued The Star repre-
sentative a small ticket with a return
coupon attached, with the date stamped
on the stub. On the return a few
hours later the stub was turned in at
the same gate. The cost Of the ticket,
| including the return stub, was rs cents
$4,000 Road Bonds.
At the beginning Of the present year
Fairfax county subscribed a bond issue
for the construction Of several miles