Eagle River review. [volume] (Eagle River, Wis.) 1890-1927, 1918-04-12

Maintenance OF The System
By j. T. Nemacheck County Highway
Commissioner.
As stated in the previous article this
State Trunk Highways will be mgiu--
tanned by a patrol maintenance syS-
tenn, patrolmen being placed in charges
of sections, \ certain mileage of road
This mileage will vary. In somN-
places Of intensive traffic it will keep
the patrolmen busy to care for five
miles and in others patrolman cam
care for ten miles Signs will mark
the beginning of each patrol section,
giving the name of the patrolman and
the number of the patrol section
Each patrolman will wear asuitable
badge, showing his number.
The patrolmen will devote their
whole time during the maintenance
season to keeping their section of the
road in condition. Each patrolman
will be required to keep his section
we'll graded and drained, use the drag
and road plane when needed to keep
the surface smooth and add new ma
terial where required, keep the brush
away from dangerous places, such as
sharp turns, keep the grass and weeds
cut adjacent to the road and culverts
add new material and repair defects
He will be equipped by the county,
with light road grader, road plane ar
drag, slip-scraper and complete outfit.
The patrolman will be required tn.
furnish team and wagon. work ten
hours day, furnish regular repoFtz,
to the State Highway Commission
and the County Highway Commissions
er. He is expected to give informa~
ton to the travelling public and be OF
assistance to them where necessary.
| The patrolman will give bond in tIlCz
sum of $500 for the faithful perform
ance of his duties.
| The funds for the maintenance Of
the State Trunk Highway system are
derived from the automobile license
! fees and are allotted among the coun-
| ties on the basis of the State Trunk
Highway mileage in each county.
These funds remain in the state treas
ury until the county demonstrates ter
the State Highway Commission that
it has mai ntained the roads up to re-
quirements and are entitled to the
funds allotted to them. This county
will have available from this fund
this year the sum of 81, 600 About
5000, 600 will be available for 1918
throughout the state, or an average of
about SITS per mile, the amount in
Ecreasing from year to year as the au-
tOmObile licenses increase. In addatiome
to this amount, many counties have
appropriated maintenance funds f0E-
repair or reconstruction of portions Of
the system and there will probably be-
total available in 1913 of 1000, Coz
for repairs and maintenance. In the
past some moneys have been spent on
county maintenance, but it is safe ter
SAY that 80% of the system has not re-
ceived an average expenditure of $40
per mile per year for this purpose.
The public must be patient and
an opportunity for the patrol main
teIance system to be developed. When
one considers that 500 patrolmen must,
be selected, many of them new to the
work, the entire system new in Wis
consin, the bigness of the task will be~
appreciated. Too much can not be ex-
pected Immediately. 1t will take good
ly part of the season of 1918 to get tile
system marked and signed and to train
the patrolmen to give maximum re-
turns.
The travelling public is in a position
and should cooperate. The autona-
bile owner, it is true, is paying for
this mainten ance, but he is the one
who is creating the demand for it,
when the system is running smoothly.
| believe he will be fully satisfied and
even will be willing to yield to an In
crease in the automobile license fe0e
to secure further impr oyements, as it,
means money in its pocket. tits con-
fidently predicted from the experience
of other states that the results of pat~
rol maintenance on the State Trunk
Highways will lead to it's being ex--
tended to the county aid highway sys-
TEN.
The next article Road Markines
System
Attorney +. w. Carter has accepted