The Belding banner-news. (Belding, Mich.) 1918-1973, 1918-09-18
UNCLE GEORGE
VAN PElT URGES
CEMENT ROADS
INSISTS THAT CONCRETE ROADS
WILL COME SOME DAY AND
WANTS THEM NOW.

ticle on concrete roads, for the Ban
ner- News some time ago recently de-
livered tn following address at the
Michigan State fair:
President p. l.. Colgrove of the
Michigan Good Roads association ask
ed me to tell you what kind of road
I'd build. Well, that's easy. Any
body could answer that for me.
There's only one real road and that's
the concrete road. But I'd like to tell
how I'd build it. That's different
question. N.
There is too much effort to save
money on the first cost when we are
building roads. 1t is the final cost
for 20 or so years of service that
counts. That means that we have
got to combine the best brains, the
best experience and the best mater
ials into cur road, that's all. With
that in mind ! would engage the very
best practical engineer that could
find, regardless of salary I'd make
him understand that it was the best
concrete road possible to build that
had in mind. I'd have him draw
specifications and plans based on the
experience of all builders of concrete
roads which haye proved satisfac-
tory. I'd have him design it strong
enough to stand the increased heavy
I tonnage that is sure to follow and
| I'd give him instructions to stamp his
name and date upon every mile of
road he built. A man is mighty
careful about his reputation and if he
signs his work he's going to build
something that Will be a credit to
him.
If / were building enough road, I'd
expect this engineer to build his or
ganization from the best men obtain
able, to establish laboratory to test
out all the materials to be used, to
buy the best concrete mixer and put
a man with a conscience to running it
SO that every batch of concrete would
be properly propcrtioned.
If it was best to let the work to a
contractor, would make the require
ments so rigid that only experienced
contractors would want the work
/ would demand daily reports from
every department so that my engineer
and / would know what was going on.
l would widen or 'moon" out the
curves in order to prevent accidents
so that the actual width of the pave
ment at the center Of the curb would
be "a feet for an 1S-foot pavement.
/ would super-elevate the outside of
these curves to make steering easier
and to prevent skidding. Such curves
would be safe at all speeds s&
That's how / would build concrete
road and it only costs a little more
than shoddy road, many of which
our war trucks have torn and shot to
pieces. But no war truck, / don't
care how heavy, has torn up the good
concrete roads, the honest concrete
roads that are being built today. Ten
\ inches in the middle is none too great
thickness for heavy traffic and 8 inch
es at the sides is insurance against
later trouble.
Concrete roads would be 10 years
ahead of where they are today if the
first concrete roads had been built
with the same knowledge and engin-
eering skill that we have today. We
didn't use enough cement. We didn't
know the Importance of hard, clean
materials and proper workmanship.
We do know how today. But some
of us think too much in terms of first
cost and not enough in terms of ulti-
mate cost. We try to skin through
on the least possible expenditure and
of course that means trouble.
/ can see the day coming when our
main Travelled roads will be built of
concrete from 40 to 60 feet wide with
curb in the middle, built for heavy
trucks on one side and touring cars on
the other. The need for such roads
is already here. But the roads are
yet to be built. We can make them
beautiful. We want shade trees and
fruit trees on both sides. That will
keep some of the 200 million dollars
that Americans were spending abroad
up to 1914, for touring in this country
to see our own country.
We've got about 100000 motor
trucks in use in this country and a
lot of the trucks we are now shipping
abroad are going to come back after
the war. What are they going to do
to our gravel and stone roads or our
i soft-stuff roads? They are literally
knocking the tar" out of all the
roads we've got except concrete.
Wherever there is a stretch of con-
crete you know there is economy of
tires, gasoline and of the cars them
selves.
When there are plenty of good con-
crete roads for our trucks to roll over
i the present freight and express rates
will drop. Rates are now about equal
where motor routes have been estab-
hshed and they Will be reduced ma
terially as soon as we have substan-
tial concrete roads.
Now don't think that / am advocat-
ing immediate road building every
where. The government says where
it wants roads built and gets them
built--mostly with concrete. When
the time comes that we can build roads
for other than war traffic, want ev-
erybody to know the truth, that the
right and only kind of road is con-
crete.
And the cheapest kind of road to
build thinking of first cost and up
keep is the concrete road. have
told you how I would rebuild it and
when the war is over hope you will
remember what have said.
Some day there may be discovered
a better material than concrete for
road building. When it turns up
xxo,s ~ koo~ Vov DALI h1oxxv,uc~ liz txo-