The Birmingham age-herald., 1916-03-03
Board of Revenue Will Start Work On Road Within
 Next 90 Days
ENGINEERING AID IS
 ASKED OF BANKHEAD
SibIey Requests That Government Give Benefit of Its Service In Deciding Upon Best
 Route

The Warrior river will be made ac- 'cessible to Birmingham within six months.
 A decision to this effect was reached yesterday at noon following conference between the members of the Warrior river committee of the Chamber of Com merce and the members of the board of revenue
 The importance of immediate work on highway to the river was presented to the board of revenue by John W. Sip ley, chairman of the committee, who made the principal address to the county of- ficials. President Bush of the Chamber of Commerce and Murray Brown also spoke on the question and impressed upon the board the vital necessity for some action which would meet the inn mediate and pressing needs of the dis trict
 Dr. R. F. Lovelady, president of the board and Hugh McGeever outlined to| the committee the difficulties under which the board labored so far as im- mediate work was concerned. The fact that all the money available for the present was appropriated for work start ed sometime ago was assigned as the reason the board could not immediately build the road.
 TO MOVE CONNECTS
 It was explained, however, by the mem- bers of, the board that within 90 days tEey would be able to move some of the convict camps so that they could begin work on a road to the river which would meet all the n>sds for the pres ent and give the city and the district itoI i, ,irI,x ff. hn riU "a road can be completed within 90 days after work is begun, it was stated. Mem bers of the committee explained to the board of revenue that they were not welded to either of the routes under con- sideration.
 Upon suggestion of MT. Sibley, it was decided to put either Engineer Clark or some other engineer employed especially for this work in charge of the task of finding out which of the two routes would be best suited for immediate improve ment c. H. Ohme, who IS a member of the committee, will be allowed access to all the maps and reports on the river surveys and will cooperate with the en- gineers in charge of the work. A re- quest has been made of Government En- gineer G. K. Little Of Tuscaloosa to cooperate in reaching a decision on the matter.
 Prior to the visit to the board of revenue, a meeting of the committee was held at the Chamber of Commerce yes terday morning. President Morris Bush. Chairman Sibley M. P. Northington, Murray Brown, -Erskine Ramsay, c H. Ohme and General Secretary Radcliffe at- tended. The committee decided to take the matter up at once with the board of revenue. Another act of the body was the authorization of Chairman Sibley to write letter to Senator Bankhead, ask ing for the aid and cooperation of the government engineering corps in the mat ter of reaching a decision regarding the highway and the proposed electric rail- way.
 SIBLEY'S LETTER
 The letter, which was sent yesterday afternoon to Senator Bankhead, follows:
 My Dear Senator Bankhead: As you know, for sometime past a committee of the Chamber of Commerce, of which have the honor to be chairman, has been actively boosting the matter of con- structing a modern, permanent highway between Birmingham and the head of navigation on the Warrior river. and also the companion, and ultimately the most satisfactory solution of the transporta- ton problem, an electric, municipally owned railway.
 "As a result of enthusiastic support on the part of the press of Birmingham and the civic organizations, great deal haS been accomplished m crystallizlng public sentiment in favor of this prop osition, and chiefly in getting the board of revenue to make surveys of the most feasible routes between Birmingham and the Warrior.
 ''The board of revenue today agreed to put a construction force within 20 days on the work and finish up the present temporary roads to the river in order that the earliest use might be had of the river franSpOrfa tion while wa ara working out the best finaf plan.
 ''We realize that great deal of in vestigation is yet to be made in order to determineN-the most satisfactory point on the river at which to locate docks, wharves and other terminal facilities in order to get the largest tonnage with satisfactory depth of the river.
 LOCATION OF ROUTE
 ''It is also necessary to have compe- tent engineering and expert investigation and reports as to the location of a route