Ladysmith news-budget. [volume] (Ladysmith, Rusk County, Wis.) 1907-1927, 1919-04-04
GETTY PLANNING" IDEAS
FOR TOWN AND COUNTY


planner'' may we'll be applied to the
problems of Wisconsin town and rural
community development is pointed out
by Leonard S. Smith, town planner'
on the staff of the University of Wis
cOnsin. In the layout of streets and
roads for example, he urges several
benefits that may be secured.
Nearly 200 American cities are at
present engaged in some stage of scien-
tific planning for the future, having
realized that city planning means, not
spending more money, but spending
money more wisely The saving in
money and. what is more important.
saving in human welfare conferred by
sane city planning is almost beyond be-
lief. But enormous as it is. it must
always fall short of the benefits con-
ferred by Systematically planning our
10000 rural communities. While the
time has already gone by for the cor
rection of many defects in the cities.
because of expensive development. bad
conditions in rural towns and districts
are not so fixed and now admit of
ready and cheap improvement.
''The street and block systems in
rural towns and the alignment and To-
,ation of country roads, for example.
ire usually haphaZard, illogical. and
lnslited for the new forms of traffic
.aused by the automobile. The most
common street plan includes square
blocks of about 300 feet on the side,
10Th in business and residence sections.
far more logical plan would be a
block length about twice its width to
| 10 away with half the streets in one
| direction, saving the large and useless
expense of all street improvements,
public utilities and maintenance. An
economic loss to the community is in
-Olved in the dedication Of more land
| for street improvements than the COM
nunity can use.
Again the decentralization OF
| street widths. which results in a nearly
universal width of &C feet instead OF
| 10. 80, 60, so or even wider streets for
| heavy traffic cannot be defended from
any standpoint. AS we'll might tailOrs
make all coats number SO. The logical
md guiding principal should be to de-
| sign system of streets to fit the char
icter of traffic and the nature of the
| neighborhood.
"A 50-foOt street. with a setback
or building line, is far preferable in a
| residence section to the wide, eXpen-
| ST apI JI1ctu ctppnt On thp
other hand a street much wider than
| 66 feet should be provided on business
streets. One bad result of making all
streets equally suited or unsuited for
| business is that this means it must be
Ia matter of pure chance whether a
residence section may not be changed
into business quarter, thus involving
| a large loss to the owners of homes.
Country Roads Need Study
THE almost universal custom of 10
| eating market roads on section lines
| quite disregardful of the steep grades
made necessary by Wisconsin's rolling
topography, would be ridiculous were
it not for it's alarming effect upon the
cost of hauling and the resultant cost
| of living The American farmer has
been too patient or unthinking to I'M
derstand the economic waste thus
caused in the original cost of grading
| the roads. the excessive cost of main
| tanning such steep grade roads. and
above all. the excessive cost and loss
of time involved in using such system
of roads.
THE best located roads of locality
are usually those very old ones located
in the river valleys or on the ridge
lines long before the country was eli
vided into square mile. sections.
But not only does the rigid rectang
ular road system fail to give economic
locations i'm Wisconsin but it also for
bids traffic except in two directions
/ east and west. or north and south
The roads to county seats and between
market towns. the main county anC
state roads, should be as 1.-The crow
flies" so far as topographic conditions
will allow