Belding banner. (Belding, Mich.) 1889-1918, 1916-07-12
Road Funds Are the Best Used by
Men Who Have Studied Meth
DDS of Road Building

The American Highway Association
has been publishing a Good Roads
Year Book containing a complete sur
vey of the good roads movement-the
status of the work i'm all the states
and districts, the laws that have been
passed touching the work, the meth
DDS of construction, the types of road
best adapted to differeing traffic, the
engineering problems with which the
builders must deal and how to solve
them, the intimate relation of i'm
proved highways to individual and
community interests, questions of cost
of construction and cost of mainte-
nance, so that the Good Roads Year
Book has come TO be a trustworthy
compendium if all that relates to this
great question. The Year Book for
1916 is now in press and will shortly
be ready for distribution. The Pref
ace for this volume has been written
by President Harrison, in which he
sets forth the purpose of the Ameri-
can Highway Association-the Sin
telligent and effective use of the large
funds actually available" for road
building.
During the year 1915 it is. not un-
likely that about $300,000,000 will be
spent on highways and highway
bridges i'm the United States, or about
as much as one-third the cost of the
federal government for the fiscal year
1913-1914. The average citizen who
is asked to vote for the issue of high
way bonds, and who pays road taxes,
as well as the expert, has the right to
know how the money is expended and
that it shall be expended for road
building and road maintenance so as
to obtain the largest economical re-
suits. That such results may be
reached the American Highway Asso-
citation has entered upon a campaign
of education by bringing together in
its book or books "a general outline
of the methods in use i'm the different
states of conduction road improve
ments and of raising funds for such
work; an untechnical and practical
explanation of different types of road
improvements, culverts and bridges;
a statement of the methods of main
tenance and of preventing dust; a
digest of the current specifications of
highway departments in several states
where road work is carried on extern
sively; an explanation of the princi-
piles underlying the different classes
of bonds issued TO pay for highway
improvements, and finally to supply
lists of manufacturers of machinery
and materials for road work and of
societies and clubs interested in the
betterment Of our highways"
The building Of good roads is "a
mans work." 1t cannot be done "just
So" There must be definite planning
and thorough system and capable su.
pervision. "To make the best use of
road funds they should be spent under
the direction of men who have de-
voted their lives to the study and
practice of road building" These
men must be pdd adequately for
their services, and these services
should be available for all the counties
and districts through which the roads
under construction run. 1t may not
be practicable for single counties to
employ the best engineering ability
in the construction Of their roads, but
this difficulty can be largely over
come if the counties will all join in the
work of building up the state high
way departments from which they
would be able to obtain such technical
advice as might be required in the
solution of their several difficult prob
lens in road construction and mainte-
nance.