The Glasgow courier. [volume] (Glasgow, Mont.) 1913-current, 1918-07-12

thoroughly IN The work of highway
construction that never herea1ter VIII
THIS feature of national transpcrI De
considered as anything but OF hlgnes'
Importance, Il
|. This does not mean that local road
Improvement should be or Will be sub
Ject to national administration, b
the need of supervision for Interstate
routes has been so acute that nlgnway
users al hope for the development
/; 0! something analogous TO tne super
VISION which the government exercises
OF interstate railroad traHlc. IL may
be expected to designate certain a
as interstate routes. to prescribe the
character of improvement, and to ex-
pend the federal aid approPrlatlon
routes. More substantial and wider
roads may be expected as the result
of the war experiences. America is
not vet fairly out of the makeshift
period in road construction. The need
for mileage has been so pressing that
permanence has been sacrificed. 1t
is q grave question whether we are
making roads much faster than the
increasingly numerous and heavy We
hicles are "un-making" them. With
the motive of applying this lesson,
General Leonard wrote to State High
way Commissioner William D. Schier
of Massachusetts,:
"The requirements for the wearing
surface for military purposes may be
all kinds Of weather, in ali seasons of
the year under the most severe usage;
(2) veal resistant so that extensive
OF frequent repairs and maintenance
will not be necessary; (3) easy and
quick to repair without i~nterrupting
traffic and with simple tools and
materials; az low in tractive resist
ance, and (5) offering a good foothold
for horses and a good grip for rubber
tires, and at the same time to allow
a good rate of speed for motor trucks.
"Only the highest types of standard
pavement surfaces answer these re-
quirements completely. Wearing sur
faces which are not suitable for use
in our cities will not stand up under
concentrated highway traffic. The
block pavements, such as stone block
or vitrifed brick, are probably the
best types, but in localities where
these materials are not available, care
fully prepared sheet pavements of
pIOScu WOICl may NC uocu SdIlSldc-
torily. Methods of construction and
types Of surfacing, which are used to
cheaper the first cost at the expense
of the requirements stated above,
should not be used"
Wider and better pavements are
sure to come under government direc-
ton. In France, many Of the high
ways are wide enough to permit the
army trucks being driven four abreast.
The medieval nuisance, the side ditch,
will have to 60, primarily because the
room is needed for paving surface, but
also largely because it holds the con-
tinuous menace of accident to the driv-
err, because it breeds mosquitoes and
malaria and because i tstendency to
stoppage makes it of double value
from a drainage point of view. On
two sections on the Cleveland Buffalo
highway the side ditch has already
been eliminated in favor of yitrified
=. pipe un~derdrainage.
Routes for national highways will
t be determined naturally by the ex-
: igencies of traffic this year and next.
2 In general, these routes have been we'll
l identified for many decades, but only
= on a few of them has it been possible
: to travel for more than a few hours
: at the most without encountering all
= possible kinds and degrees of improve
ment, or lack of improvement. When
f the new national highway policy bears
: fruit, it willb be possible to travel from