The Marietta journal. (Marietta, Ga.) 1918-1944, 1919-01-10
MAKES FULL PLANS FOR
SECURING PERMANENT
ROADS in COBB COUNTY
John P. Cheney Sets Forth
Good Suggestions
Suggests that County Comissioners
Select Roads to be Made, and that
They be Paid for With Bond Issue.
Convicts to be Used on Work.

/
in which we invited our readers who
might have a definite plan of perma-
nent road building in mind to put
the plan before the people of the
county
We have just received the follow
ing letter from John P. Cheney, of
Marietta, in which he sets out plans
| in detail for the construction of roads
in the county, which is worthy of
careful consideration:
Mr. Editor:
From time to time / notice you
have made suggestions as to the need
of permanent roads in Cobb County,
and it does seem to me that our peo-
pie have not responded as they should,
however, / don't believe it was be-
cause of lack of desire on their part
for good roads, as much as it was the
fact that each man was waiting for
/ the other to offer suggestions. l be-
lieve that we will all agree that we
want good roads-that is to say, per-
manent roads. This sentiment has
crystalized within the past five years.
since our farmers have begun to buy
automobiles for their travel and
trucks for their hauling, so that now
the farmers, so far as they are con-
cerned, see the need of a permanent
road system. l am going to offer
some rough suggestions merely to get
the argument started, and hope that
everyone will feel perfectly free to
criticise them, but don't criticise them
unless you have something better to
offer. My idea is as follows:
/. Our County Commissioners
should have hearing as to which OF
our roads should be considered as
trunk roads, and after such hearing,
they should declare which shall be
considered as trunk roads.
2. They should then employ
competent road engineer to ascertain
the total and separate mileage or
these trunk roads, the width neces-
sary to give good service, the amount
of grading necessary to put these
! roads on such a grade as they ought
to have for a permanent road bed.
This work, including the grading
should all be done at the expense OF
the county, through our county COM
missioners.
3. The balance of the work to
be done, in order to make a perman-
ent road should be paid for out OF the
proceeds of bond issue to be voted
upon by the people, and the money
arising from the sale of the bonds
expended by a special bond commits
sion of three or five men from the
county at large, these bond commits
sioners to be named by our county
commissioners after full hearing as
to the fitness of those who should be
named in the bill to be enacted by
our Legislature, and which is refer
red to later in this article.
a. After the number of trunk
roads and the total mileage thereof
has been ascertained, and an approx
innate estimate has been made to the
cost of making them permanent roads,
we should have a special act passed
by the Legislature this summer, which
| should, before becoming a law, be
referred back to the people and rati-
fed by a majority vote at special
election. This act should name the
| commissioners to handle the money,
and the amount of the proposed bond
issue, and should designate these
trunk roads and set forth what per-
centage of the proceeds of the bond
| issue would go to each road; also that
| this permanent road work should be
done by contract to the lowest bid
| ders. and the act should set forth
| substantially the manner IN when
| these contracts should be let by the
special bond commissioners.
5. The bond commission should
see that the work is carried on without
delay, and that some work should be
done on each of the roads at the same
time, if possible; that is to say, they
should not undertake to complete one
road before the work was started on
another. And they should not under
take as a beginning, to build the roads
too wide, but should look to their
permanently. When this act was put
before the people for ratification
they would know exactly what they
were voting on; they would know
exactly how much their bond issue
was going to be; they would know
who was going to spend their money;
and they would know substantially in
what manner it was going to be spent.
In other words, they would know that
the whole thing would be handled
openly and above board, so that no
private contractors would get their
money without value received.
6. The county commissioners
should then use our convict system,
and have practically the same amount
of funds for their road work as
usual, and should keep up all other
roads of the county, and should not