The Richmond Virginian. (Richmond, Va.) 1910-1920, 1919-09-19

lent appropriations to roads from our
general funds or give careful consid-
GRAFTON to the issuing of bonds by the
state for construction purposes.
There liz a very general move on
foot at the present time to see tnat
the present federal appropriation -
very materially increased some time
within the next year to eighteeH
months.
to congress "A bill to establish mai
ional highway system. Should these
national plans materialize and the
state places itself in position to meet
them. I feel that we can easily count
on the construction Of our state high
way systems Within six years or a litt-
tel better than dividing the above es-
Innate in half.
TIME AND PATIENCE
The point which l wish to impress
upon you and to have you clearly I'M
Cerstand is that even under the most
favorable conditions 1T will take q
great deal of time and amending pa
t.ence before we can accomplish that
which we have started out to do |. e.
the Improvement of our state high
way system.
From the above you will realize
that you. as citizens of the state, are
embarking on tie biggest business
venture ever under taken by the state.
A business which will ultimately rep
resent the expenditure of large
sums Of money, AS the head Of the
department having this work in
charge. / am here to ask you to give
1t careful consideration and your sup
port and cooperation. You will
finance It and as such are the stock
FOLDERS and you should therefore
give it your time and thought and
1t is only in tbs way that you can
expect to derive dividends on the in
,estment which you are making.
What are you TO get as your part
of the dividends from this invest
rent? That is the question which
you will ask yourself. The Legisla-
tive road committee in laying out the
highway system established road
from Fredericksburg to Port Royal
thence on down to Tappahannock and
Saluda. We are at the present time
constructing the worse section OF this
road from point just below Port
loyal to Loretta in your county. We
are also preparing TO temporarily i'm
prove a section OF the road just above
Port Royal and we have under con-
Snow Creek in the lower end of
Spottsylvania county. This then will
give you access to Frederic kshurg.
The committee also esta biished
road from West Point to Saluda. This
las been under contract for some
time and the grading on II Is lust
bout completed / wish to say, how
ever, that this is only a good graded
road and az such we shall make every
effort to maintain the travel over it
during the coming season. This how
EVER, is not the class OF work I'll
should like 10 construct and ii will
soon be necessary for us to place on
this road "A more permanent type OF
surface. This then brings as TO
road which I think is of more Inn
rortance to this section of the state
than any OF the other roads selected
~ the committee, namely. the road
from Tappahannnck to Richmond
This is several miles in length and is
practically unimpt owed for it's whole
length The department Is exceed
lnely anxious to ascertain the worse
links in this road and begin con-
Hructing at these points. We are
making an investigation along these
lines at the present time in order that
we NAV ba BILE TO start work on some
sections of this road during the COM
ing season. With the construction of
This road we hope to open up to you
easy access TO Richmond and Rich
n, ond market. Also to open up the
same markets to Northern Neck. FL
have always fell that the business OF
this sectien and OF the Northern Neck
is legitimately Virginia business and
that Virginia should make every eff
for to retain 1t. This is the work which
the department has in mind TO do In
this section. l. O to bring you In
touch with the remainder of the state /
CT Virginia and in this we are asking !
you TO help in the development of the /