The Birmingham age-herald., 1919-06-27
For the Good of
 the COmmunity

TT is announced that the concrete foundations of the highways to be built in Jefferson county this year will be about six inches thick at the ter and five inches at the edges. Is this depth sufficient to withstand the heavy traffic the roads to be improved will have to bear? If it is not, wouldn't it be better to increase the thickness even though the cost be more, and thus }engthen the life of the roads?
 The usual thickness of concrete foundations, ac- cording to available information, is eight or nine inches at the center and tapering to six or seven inches at the edges. Experience, it is claimed, shows this to be the ideal foundation for roads that must bear heavy traffic.
 It is come to be acknowledged that, whatever be the surface the base must be concrete if per manent, durable road is to be constructed. And nobody wants temporary affair at such great cost as will be that of the proposed Jefferson county roads.
 No roads in the state will be subjected to such hard service as will those of Jefferson county, and no chances should be taken in building them
 County Engineer Batson doubtless is a com petent engineer; if he is not, he is in the wrong place. and State Highway Engineer Kellar and the federal engineers ought to know what they are doing. It is presumed they do, otherwise they would not occupy the positions they do.
 Yet, according to announcement, they have planned, and it is understood, will approve of road foundations in Jefferson county that expe- rience shows will not be suitable for the heavy trucks that will use them daily.
 The people of Jefferson county want good roads, they are willing to pay for good roads; but they demand that the roads be what the name PERM HAVEN'T means in every sense of the word.
 With state and federal aid the direct cost to the taxpayers of Jefferson county will be inconsider- able, but they will be taxed with the upkeep, and furthermore, they contribute indirectly to the state and federal funds applied to this purpose. They are, therefore directly interested in the mat ter and they should see to it that only the best and most durable highways are constructed. It is economy to add few inches to the foundation, thereby extending the life of the roads several years and lessening the upkeep from year to year.
 In other years it has been argued against the building of permanent roads that the cost was ex- cessive; that they would place too great burden upon the taxpayers In this connection para graph appearing in pamphlet issued by the Portland Cement association sometime ago, is pertinent It says:
 Reduced to an acreage basis and distributed over period of 20 years under $1, 100000 bond issue, the average cost to farmer living on land assessed at $30.63 per acre is 834 cents per acre per year. This estimate is based on proposed con- crete road construction in Vermon county, Ill., and Vermon county has just accepted bids for 145 miles of concrete highways
 Distributed over period of years and equal zed among the farmers and taxpayers who are thus enabled to reach their market town 365 days in the year-and more quickly than ever before with larger loads drawn by fewer horses, the cost of a concrete road is negligible"
 These cost figures were based on 1914 prices. It would probably cost 25 per cent more to build the same roads now, but at that the additional cost per acre per year would be insignificant com pared with the results thereby to be obtained
 Before awarding the contracts for building these roads, if they are to be built under contract