Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1916-07-14
Statement on DetOurS
by Highway Commission


on Thursday from the Office Of the
Maine State Highway Commission, a
statement called forth by complaints
made in various sections about the
conditions Of some Of the detours and
| showing the exact position of the COM
mission on the matter:
During the last two weeks the high
good many letters Of complaint rela-
tive to detours around State highway
work. These letters come direct to the
commission, they have come to the
commission through the Office Of the
Maine Automobile Association and
some letters have come through the
Office Of the secretary Of State.
The highway commission believes
that the public may be interested in
knowing just what arrangements have
been made this year for the care of
detours and desires to make the fol-
lowing statement.
The commission applied to the Gov
ernon and Council last October for ap-
prevail Of their apportionment Of the
bond funds to be available during 1916;
the Governor and Council approved the
appOrtionment with the provision that
towns in which State highway work
was laid out should put the detour
rouds in good shape and agree to main
tain them in good shape before the
commission should start State highway
construction. This information was
communicated to the selectmen Of all
the towns in which the commission ten
tatively planned to do work during
February Of the present year. The
matter was taken up and copy Of the
council order forwarded to towns again
the latter part Of March or in April. In
practically every instance the towns
assured the commission either by cor
respondence or by a personal call from
the selectmen at the Offices of the COM
mission that everything necessary by
way Of putting detours into condition
and maintaining them throughout the
season would be done by the town.
The commission believes that most
towns have attended to this work in
fairly good shape. The commission is
sure that early in the season towns
put the detour roads into fairly passa-
BILE condition but SO much rain has &C.
CURED during the last four or five
weeks that the traffic has been so
heavy that many of the roads have
shown signs Of distress. The commits
ton Of selectmen to particularly bad
spots on the detour road and in every
case these bad places have been imme-
diately fixed. It is next to impossible
! to keep a dirt road in good condition
in rainy weather when 1t is taking
heavy automobile traffic. The public is
beginning to find this out; indeed, it is
difficult to keep a good gravel road in
proper condition under heavy traffic
during rainy weather without daily at
tention. A case in point Is the gravel
road in Old Orchard and Scarboro built
last year and year before. For the last
/ eight weeks this has been the detour
around the work between Saco and
Dunston and this splendid gravel road
, is practically a wreck today.
The towns feel that they are doing
all that they can reasonably anord to
do and the highway commission feel
that it is not a good business policy to
spend say five hundred to a thousand
dollars per mile Of maintenance money
on the detour road. The commission is
positive that no other state does this.
In fact. information which has come to
the Offices Of the commission during
the present season indicates that the
detours in Maine are better than they
are generally speaking in the other
New England states.
The commission has been forced re-
peatedly to call the attention Of the
public to the fact that the only time
that roads can be built is during the
summer season. the time when people
want to use them and II the roads are
to be improved at all the public must