The Brattleboro daily reformer. (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1913-1955, 1918-04-02
Meets Road Commissioners
and Selectmen of
This County
MAINTENANCE ONE
OF POINTS STRESSED
Is Importance of Strengthening
Bridges to Garry Heavy Auto Trucks
and Third Relates to Permanent I'm
Drnvanaptc
provementS.

State Highway Commissioner Stod-
lard B. Bates of Derby is in town to-
lay conducting the annual conference
between the state highway commits
sioner and the road commissioner and
selectmert of the various Windhan
ounty towns. The meeting began this
forenoon in the board of trade and
earm bureau headquarters ard was re-
sumed at 1.30 p. m. after the noon re-
cess.
Commissioner Bates is laying stress
his year upon three things in par
+icular, namely. road maintenance, the
strengthening of bridges for motor
truck traffic, and permanent improve
ments
Under the heading of road mainte-
nance he said that it was Just as impor-
tant to maintain the unsolicited high
ways as 1t was the selected highways
This year. During the war the neees-
Slty of feeding the people is more pro-
1ounced than ever, and in this work
transportation becomes an important
sactor. Production and transportation
70 hand in hand, he said and it is the
patriotic duty of the towns to maintain
Ill the roads in order that transporta-
tion may be facilitated. Improved
transportation tends toward the con-
Seryation of labor, which is very impor-
tant just now and is becoming in
| creasingly so.
strengthening of highway bridges. Com
missioner Bates emphasized the fact
that the motor truck problem confronts
he towns and must be met, ga-dless
If the condition of the roads II the
road from here to Bellows Falls is such
that 15ton truck can pass over It
and there is bridge that will carry
| but three tons, then three tons is the
init of the load that can be trans
ported. In other words the bridge is
he weak link in the chain. The COM
missioner is asking the town officials
20 look over the bridges and see what
means can be'taken to strengthen or
replace them, and is asking that all
bridges on highways toward whose
maintenance the state contributes be
~trengthened so as to have a carrying
| capacity of - tons
Taking up the question: Of permanent
| Improvements. Commissioner Bates laid
| stress upon the Importance of the
patrol service. Windham county is
deficient in this service Last year
OBS miles of road in Vermont were
maintained by patrolmen, the number
of whom was 15l. The number of miles
of road under patrol service in this
county was 6312. This is not as much
as it should be, Mr.. Bates said, and the
state IS willing to provide for a large
share of the expense of patrol service
if the towns will agree to pay GER
tain amount for maintenance. 1t is i'm
possible for the road commissioner to
visit all the roads under his jurisdiction
every day so it is essential to have
othe; persons available who can have
constant oversight of certain number
of miles of highway.
/ Various individual problems con
nectcd with road construction were
discussed with the commissioner, and
interest
1 Figures for Windham county show
ing the amount of money voted by the
different towns in order to receive state
!, aid, both in 1917 and 1918 were read
by Mr.. Bates, which showed a sub
stantial falling off for this year, due,
he thinks, to the disposition to econ
ures were as follows: