Arizona republican. [volume] (Phoenix, Ariz.) 1890-1930, 1916-06-13
THE EVOLUTION
OF GOOD ROADS

Times have changed and we must
change with them if we<hope to keep
in the game. or stay on the earth. In
these super practical days, nobody
ever stops to ask who we are or where
we came from. In the language of
Louis Hill, who has got to prove now
that ne IS worthy of his great father
the empire builder of the west-it is
net the question of Who's who;" but
whats. what" That's what. Men
have been making trails or building
roads in this country ever since Sam
Foss's calf laid out the streets of old
Boston. That was long before Beacon
Hill and Rack Pay became synonyms
Of high emprise and annoying respec-
ia bilty and when the Pilgrim Fathers
were footing 1t to meeting house or
massacre and a century or two in adj
vance of what has been sometimes
called the devil Wagon" was invented
to become in a sense the emissary of
peace. But the trails that the calf
took and the roads into which they
were converted by Praise God Bare
Bones" and his fellows have long since
served their purpose and persisted in
the using Times have changed ideals
have vanished, the likely steers in the
herd have been sent to the slaughter
house instead of being condemned to
the yoke. and the faithful horse which
long time, ago said among the
trumptets. Ha ha;" and "smelleth the
IL 60 ne hoe
sihle to run a race with the motor ear
and armored truck job and Isaiah
and jeremiah and Foss and the historic
calf and ox-cart and the oldtime fam
ily coach with the folding steps have
all died the death of the righteous.
Things are changing all the time.
About sixty years ago the tracks of
number of railroads in this country
were built of flat iron strapped to
wooden stringers. Nothing better was
REQUIRED for the business of the cOun-
try Al the time; but the conditions
/ changed and with the times there
came the heavy steel Trails of the
present dav ard the heavier construc-
ton for constantly increasing traffic
/ The flat railroad rails of the late SOS
would be an embarra ssment to business
/ now just as-the RECONSTRUCTED high
( ways OF the fathers are constant
drain uDCn the resources of the child
ren and definite hindrance to the
material development of the country.
aIr. T. NJ Ripley. division engineer
Of the New York Highway Commission
at WATERFOWL. has been making a SER
ions study of road construction and
maintenance in that state. and has
reached It number of wise conclusions.
There are in New York state So, liz
miles OF public roads OF which only
23,19s miles have been surfaced" or
improved What are known as "des-
ignated state and county highway sys-
tens cover Il length of II. 9SS miles
of which 1888 miles are completed OF
are under contract, so that New York
which is foremost in so many good
things. seems to have been somewhat
Indifferent 10 this great cause. al
though its expenditures on account OF
good roads have reached very large
figures. Mr. Ripley has found that tht
earlier roads built in the state were
made for nothing heavier than horse
drawn traffic and that they are no
equal to the great strain of the chang
ing traffic of the present day The
horse drawn vehicle which travelled
with light loads from three to eigh
miles the hour has been crowded of
the course by motor vehicles carrying
much heavier loads and going from
ter to forty miles the hour. The roat
that could stand with comparativell
: little wear the older traffic is not at al
suited to the rev. Under the old or
der the roads could be kept in fairl,
good condition at comparatively small
u expenses under the new order the oil,
l roads must either be rebuilt from TIL
ground up" or provision be made 70
such maintenance as will make then
do until new and better construction
! can be devised at an expense which a
already tax-burdened people canno
stand. The type of road has change
materially in late years and is con
stantly changing. Five or six year
ago the road builders in New Yor
were making roads that would tax
care of the increasing automobile traf
? fic. The bottom of the roads the
= We're made of three or four inches Q
broken stone; the size of the stone ha
:, been increased now to six inches o
= more. bound with a bituminous ma
. tcrial. or a more expensive type G
I. road of concrete or brick has bee
: adopted. The cost has multiple
: greatly and yet the precise type c
:, road has probably not heen found 70
. the steadily increasing weight of traf
: fic Roads that were built only fiv
; or six wears ago We're rot designed 70
the traffic of the present day and eve
the roads of later design are general
- in poor condition because, as Mr.. Rim
= leg says, 1T had not been clearly rec
% ogniZed that maintenance must stai
= as soon as the road is opened for trat
T. fic. and that some definite surfac
~ treatment must be given to a ma
cadam road, whether waterbound {
,s proved that oil made from Wester