Imperial Valley press., 1917-11-09
STATE To BEGIN PAVING
KANE SPGs. ROAD TO |. A.
HIGHWAY DREAM OF YEARS TO BE REALIZED
THROUGH ACTION AT SAN BERNARDINO.
Imperial County Agrees to Secure $4,000 by Taxation
to Repay State for Building Its Portion
of 81 Miles of Highway.

Members Of the State Highway
Com mission. in session at San Ber-
nardino with supervisors of Imperial
and Riverside counties, yesterday
agreed to commence Immediately the
construction of an eight-foot concrete
highway from Kane Spring to In
diO, distance of 81 miles, which,
with . twelve-mile strip to be built
by San BernardinO county. will enable
the people Of Imperial Valley to ride
on concrete or asphalt from the end
Of the Trifolium canal to Los Ange-
les.
Imperial county supervisors agreed
Tor this county to raise $l67,0 600 by
taxation within year to repay the
state for its portion Of the road. 1t
is probable that the tax will be added
to the budget next spring. 1t is ex-
pected that the paving will be COM
pieted within six months at the most.
Worked Twelve Hours.
! Supervisors Shaw, Brooks, Beal,
Carr and Rice arrived in San Bernar-.
dina at O'Clock yesterday morning
and went into session. almost immedi.
ately with State Highway Commits
sioners Edgerton, Darlington and
Stearns, and supervisors Of the two
other counties interested. The session
was completed at 9 o'clock last night,
with two hours intermission.
Highway Engineer w. w. Patch
was convinced by the local supervi-
sors that the only route which Impe-
rial county would stand for would be
the Kane Springs-Indio route, along
the south shore of the Salton sea.
This was readily agreed to instead
OF the Mecca inland route.
Mr.. Patch then outlined his plans
He stated that survey had been
drawn from Kane Springs to Indie,
touching Coachello, Oasis ranch, Fig
Tree Johns, Fish Springs and lmps-
rial County road camp, distance OF
t5l miles.
Road Is Now Rough.
1t was agreed by all that this
stretch of road was the worst in all
Southern California, and should be
commenced at the Jndio end, where
There is "a stretch of IL miles of con-
icrete- -macadam road ending at Indian
Wells.
/ The paving from Indio to Kane
Springs will be similar to the eight
mile stretch from Kane Springs to
the end of the Trifolium ditch in I'm
perial cOunty-eight feet wide, with
turnouts of double this width every
100 feet. The paving is to be in
creased to 16 feet later.
There are very few engineering DIFF
ficulties along the line Of the high
way, Egineer Patch explained. Ade-
quate bridges must be constructed
where desert storms occur, and the
paving properly protected by ridges
in several places. There are no
grades in the entire stretch, except
an almost imperceptible climb to the
San GorgOnia pass from Oasis ranch,
the grade extending over 100 miles.
Pass Resolutions.
Imperial county supervisors passed
resolution to raise $l67 900 by di-
rect taxation for it's portion of the
road. and also pledged its support to
the lndio- Yuma road project, agree
ing to assist financially as the funds
OF the county would permit, in the
extension of the roadway to Yuma.
Riverside supervisors passed simi-
lar resolution, promising to raise $780,
600 for the portion of the highway
passing through that county. San
Bernardino county is to furnish
small amount. and the state is to pay
for the remainder of $431 900 worth
of highway work between IndiO and
Kane Springs.
The recent embargo on material for
highway construction is to be modi-
fled, it was learned at the meeting.
to enable the state to finish this inn
portant stretch of road and enable
the farmers of Imperial Valley to get
their products to market by the cheap
er highway route to Los Angeles
Give San Diego the CODY.
That the new paving will be used
almost exclusively by Valley people
going to Los Angeles by auto and that
San Diego will suffer the loss of much
of the Valley trade is foreseen. There
is not hill on the entire route ex-
'cept the 100-mile climb to the sum-
NIT of the San Gorgonio pass at Beau
mont, and this is so gradual AS to be
hardly noticeable. There are very
few short turns, no fords or other OBJ
stacles, and the route will be about
30 miles shorter to Los Angeles than
the hilly. tortuous, rough road to San
Diego.