The Birmingham age-herald., 1916-05-12


 ton of trolley line is now under consid- eratlon by private parties, and the public VIII probably know the result of their in- vesugations when they are completed.
 (D l have been over both the proposed routes and both are feasible; in fact. neither presents any serious engineering difficulties.
 BOTH BEAUTIFUL ROUTES
 (5) Both routes are through rolling, well watered and drained, as we'll as beauti- fully wooded country, which, if made ac- cesslble to motorists and other pleasure seekers generally, would be a great at traction to the people of Birmingham, Bessemer and other cities. For miles therey are hundreds of beautiful sites for sumrner homes and camps. The river it. self, with it's excellent boating facilities and splendid fishing, would make this the most popular road in the county. If this river and the wooded country between it and Birmingham were available to any one of numb CT of western cities that I could name, which are not now blessed with woods and trees and hills and water, they would be regarded as an asset of lncalculable value and roads would be built to Nichols Fish Trap Taylors Ferry and Lock 17, where there is splendid scenery, a fine artesan well of sulphur water, and the river above the dam is a
 
 some of the famous lakes Of Switzerland and the roads would be worth many times their cost. If they were built now and even if there was never a ton of freight carried over them, they would be worth to Birmingham and Jefferson county many times their cost. have no doubt but that all of them will be built some day. The question to decide now is, which road should be built first.
 TAYLORS FERRY ADVANTAGES
 The Taylors Ferry route offers some very important advantages The cost of construction, as well as that of mainten- ance. will be less on that than on the Nichols Fish Trap route It's principal disadvantages are that the river at that point is too wide to bridge, and a road to 1t would stop at the river and never be a part of any long road or trunk line, and in case the next or any other legislature should divide this county, 1t seems cer- tain that Taylors Ferry and a large pro- portion of the road would be included in a new county and not in the same county with Birmingham. That would leave Bir- mtngham firms with no voice in its main tenance. It would, also, leave the ware house and other facilities in another county. Just how much weight should be given this point, I am not sure. That can better be determined by the board, who l.
 NICHOLS FISH TRAP The advantages of the Nichols Fish Trap route are: It is shorter and consequently the trucking will be done at a less cost Nichols Fish Trap is at a point where the river can be easily brdged if the road is to be continued further west The road over that route would be section of the proposed Atlanta Memphis highway, and would be so much of the link con- meeting Birmingham with Jasper, while the 1S.5 miles of road from Birmingham to Nichols Fish Trap, alone, would be Of great value to this district. As an 1S- mile section of the Atlanta Memphis. or even of the Birmingham Jasper highway it would be worth infinitely more l therefore recommend that the high way to Nichols Fish Trap be constructed first.
 Bessemer is too large a town to be de. prived of the advantages of this road. es- pecialy when it can be made available to that town by the reconstruction of only four miles of existing road from Bessemer to Edgewater and l consider it advisable l to do that reconstruction at the time the other road IS punt. It is already possible to haul from Bessemer to Ensley and Wv | lam over existing roads, and thence to NICHOLS f1sh Trap ln less distance than 1 from Bessemer to Taylors Ferry. l Except in one important particular I believe the profles, cross-sections etc.. ! recommended by MT. Clark are the best suited for this road He provides maxi mum grade Of per cent. While such easy grades are desirable where they can be had with little cost they are not neces- sary. A per cent grade is an easy one. and if trucking can be done successfully over any road it can be done over a good l surface on 4 per cent and , per cent 1 grades.
 COST OF GRADING
 l According to Mr. Clark's preliminary i estimates, which I think are approxi- mately correct. the cost of grading the | Nichols Fish Trap road. with maximum grade or per cent, is s1l6,160 Approxi- mately s40.oOO can be saved on this item by adopting a per cent maximum grade. The estimated cost of grading the Taylors Ferry road with per cent maximum grades. is s69,445 I think this cost would be reduced about $17.O0O if 2