The Nezperce herald. (Nezperce, Idaho) 1900-1957, 1919-04-10
THE WISCONSIN PLAN
OF STATE HIGHWAYS.
Timely Suggestions for All Idaho
ans Interested In Good Road
Building Not Per-
sonal Graft.

A. r. Hurst, State Highway
Engineer of Wisconsin,, give'
mighty good food for thought OF
state highway construction in his
contribution to the January issue
of "Good Roads,. magazine
published by the Government
Bureau of Public Roads. It is a
fair treatment Of burning sub
iect, and what has been accomp
lished in Wisconsin can be ac-
complished.. at least on more
limited scale in Idaho, if road
building is honestly administer
ed. The article, in part follows: /:
Wisconsin has in the past two
years established such a system.
and our methods Of doing it and
the lessons we have learned in
the doing Of it will doubtless be
Of interest to the States which
have. or will shortly have, similar
problems.
The whole cost Of establishing,
marking. administering and main
tanning the Wisconsin trunk high
way system and the States share
of the cost of all Federal aid con-
struction on it is made available
bv appropriating rs per cent Of
the net proceeds Of the motor-ve-
hicle license fees for these pur-
poses. The remaining 25 Der
cent goes back to the counties for
the maintenance of other main
roads.
What Should A State System Be?
Our conception is that state
trunk highway system is system
of highways interconnecting
every county seat in the state Of
fering full access to the agricul- |
tural, scenic. manufacturing and
resort interests located within
the state and connecting also with
the pricipal highways Of all SUR
rounding States.
We belive that the State trunk
highway system should include
approximately 10 per cent of the
total public mileage lying out
side the limits of incorporated
titles and villages. This percent
lge may be high for some Of the
more thickly populated States
md it may be low for the sparse
y settled ones.
The present Wisconsin State
;runk highway system comprises
1000 miles, or about 612 per cent.
# our total rural road mileage
Selecting The System.
In our State the selection was.
made Jointly by the State high
way commission and a committee
# five from the legislature .ap- {
by the governor. There !
vas complete cooperation be- 5
ween the two bodies, and we be- j
ieve that the result reached joint
Y was much more satisfactory to
he people Of the State than ac-
ion by either body alone would
AVE been. Il
The first step in the layout :
vas to select and place upon a
nap all roads in the State which,
rom the best available informa- !
ion, were the main lines OF trav-
|. These were studied very care
ully and another map made
a tentative system IN
luding the maximum mileage al /;
owed by the statute. These high >
ways were strategically located .
o that parallel highways were +
,laced a reasonable distance :
part, and so that the areas un-
ouched by any road were ap-
equal in territory OF
quail development. AS a result 5
f this very careful preliminary
rork, it was found that the ten >
alive system conceded largely :
vith the system finally selected. !
Surveys Made. >
After this had been done our 9
vision engineers made a care !
Ill reconnaissance survey OF all
ne routes on the map, together {
18th competing routes, where !,
lch existed, and such other i
outes as seemed to them to be ,
rorthy of consideration. This !
lrvev was made by automobile; :
le division engineer. who drove ',
le car. acted as observer, and !
-as assisted by recorder who a
ept a record of all features OF :
,c road by tenths of miles ON ,
repaired pad sheet The features !
ecorded included the character :,
nd condition Of the. road and it's >
lrface cuIverts. bridges, drain u
ge, soil, character of surround =
lg country, cheese factories, e
'eameries, schoolhouses, farm !
ouses, mail routes. railroad y
'ossings, turns, hills. bad condi- y y
ons generally, and all other in q
'rmation Of engineering and