Tulsa daily world. [volume] (Tulsa, Indian Territory [Okla.]) 1905-1919, 1917-01-07
DANGEROUS PRACTICES
OF ROAD BUILDERS
Leaving Impediments on High
ways Without Signals Re-
suits in Accidents.


. of leaving piles of gravel or broker
stone on roads without any warning
hignal or light Is an ineXcusa BILE in
fringemont Of the rights Of the tray
eicr. layer OF such material sly
inches thick encountered suddenly OF
"a good road on dark night is yer!
likely to render a light car unman.
cgeable. Screenings are particularly
dangerous.
In states that keep records Of ac,
cidents on roads the dangerous results
OF such carelessness have teen DEM
onstrated by figures. one state high.
way department recently warned the
ADub,ic that loose gravel forms n
M~nace to life and limb almost rs scrl-
GUS MS an open culvert or an untitled
bridge approach. Tho unlighted
mounds Of road material Sometimes
left on highways under repair are
more easily recognized at night ~
dangerous than are these thick beds
OF lose gravel or stone.
Good Roads Cost Increasing.
We are payins so much for road
improvements every year that any
light thrown the cost of such work Is
welcome. The Michigan state high
way department recently reviewed it,
work during the last ten years and
discovered some instructive figures OF
/the increase IN cost OF road building
during this period The state has
large. widely distributed deposits Of
good gravel for road building, and
many miles OF gravel roads have been
built.
In 1s05 the average cost of this
gravel was IL cents per cubic yard
today Il Is about 80 cents per cubic
yard nj the pit. In 1905 ordinary
labor was paid sl75 10 So per day,
and 80 per day was paid for team
hire: today ordinary labor is paid
S225 to 81 per day. and a team costs
s. 10 SO per day The state has also
built many miles of macadam roads
In the last ten years. and they have
been increasing In cost like the gravel
roads. In this case the increase has
been mainly due to the mounting
charge FOR labor. because the cost OF
broken stono has increased only from
81 80 to sl.50 per cubic yard.
These figures show that It Is more
Important than ever before to employ
labor and materials in the best man
nor. for ineffcicncy and carelessness
now mean a larger waste of public
ft'oSts than when prices were lower.
A competent road builder now saves
his salary many times over by stop
ping the leaks that occur under in
competent supervision, however hon
est 1t may be.
Private Road Maintenance.
There is n large sanitarium In New
York state which was subjected to
serious Inconvenience for many years
by tho condition Of the local earth
roads by which II was reached. The
sections on high land were kept in
good condition by the town super
visor, but n long stretch on low
ground was impossible in spring and
during prolonged wet weather. The
supervisor claimed II was impossible
to make II fit for use at such times.
The owner of the sanitarium refused
to accept this decision and finally the
town agreed to REMIT his road taxes
II he would keep the road in usablo
condition the year around at his own
expense.
AS soon as this agreement was
reached he had the road graded and
drained properly and arranged for II
to be dragged whenever necessary and
for the bitches and culverts to be
kept clear. Under this arrangement
the peviously neglected section is In
as good condition as any other part
OF the road thruout the year and it
is used by automobiles and teams
without Inconvenience. The most In
teresting result is. moreover, that this
Is accomplished without any greater
expense to the owner of the sani-
tarium than he formerly incurred in
the shape of road taxes The incident
IS worthy of note rs showing the lack
cf knowledge often characteristic OF
local road officers who do not have
the opportunity or the inclination to
learn the most elementary principles
of good road building.
Dangerous Grade Crossings.
There were 81 persons killed on the
Iowa highways at railway grade cross
ings in one year and many persons
were injured. Tho Iowa highway
commission is striving to eliminate
these dangerous conditions. with the
help of railway companies and local
officials. but as there are S,676 such
crossings on the country roads of the
state and many moro In the cities
and towns, the task Is n serious one.
\Strange to say, some OF the worst ac-
Hsents have occurred on crossings
not>0onsdered particularly dangerous,
which indicate that with the rapidly
increasing use OF the highways the
grade crossings on main roads must
be eliminated. Obstructed view In
approaching the track and steep ap-
proaches to II are the most common
sources of danger
Many crossings now dangerous be-
cause the view or tnem is ODStruCted
by brush, trees or buildings can be
greatly improved by the removal of
these distractions. Leveling the banks
on either side of a crossing is IA
Nethod often employed to reduce the
danger where the road and railway
are in deep cuts. Grades above per
cent at crossings are very dangerous
for two reasons, an inexperienced
driver may stall his engine on the
track while attempting to shift gears
and vehicles approaching the crossing
at the same time from opposite direc-
tions may collide on account of their
burst OF speed to surmount the cross
ing quickly. Another dangerous type
of crossing Is that where the highway
crosses the railway at n small angle.
Observations of the travel at such
crossings show that few motorists
look back as they should Just before
reaching the crossing.
Guessing ut Road Costs.
So much has been said about tho
impossibility of estimating the cost
OF road without proper prelm
mary engineering examination OF the
route that some conservative taxpay-
ers are inclined to think that hidden
in all this linguistic smoke is a sur
rcptitious desire to make jobs for en-
gineers SO an officially reported in
stance of wild guess at road costs