Harrisburg telegraph. [volume] (Harrisburg, Pa.) 1879-1948, 1919-10-01
TO the Editor Of the Telegraph: !:

ia lhe 'IClSSIdpll lOI oSPtSHibSi
23, was published news item from
Sharon, Pa, telling what the speo-
pie of Mercer county are doing to-
wards road improvement. They
have appropriated s1,500,O00 to be
spent on a road system. 1t is sure
ly gratifying to see a community
awake to the serious economic loss
of bad roads. Bad roads effect
every phase of our national life,
city and country both reflecting the
affect Is more noticeable in the rural
districts where the actual condi-
tions exist, where the travel is by
road entirely. The affect in the
cities is just as noticeable if we only
knew where to look for it. Bad
road conditions affect bank clear
ances, affect produce costs. affect
wholesale and retail business. Good
roads bring people to town to pur
chase goods and deposit savings.
They bring crops to railroad ship
ping points quicker and cheaper.
Good roads encourage the use of
modern hauling equipment and it's
accompanied economies, bad roads
foster the slow old ashioned
method of hauling heavy loads on
horse-drawn vehicles and its in
herent loss in time and money.
Dauphin county can we'll pattern
after our friends in Mercer county
in their method of raising funds
for this enterprise. Their cam
paign is worthy of praise. But
should we not give pause when
spending vast sums of public money
to consider that we do not just
spend it but invest it? Should we
we not see that a road financed by
bonds should at least have a life
equal to that of the bonds? 1t
does not require a financial genius
to see that if we construct roads
which must be rebuilt several times
before they are paid for once. that
such a policy will inevitably lead to
FINANCIAL embarrassment. Yet Mer-
Ger county is putting her monew in
macadam, cinder and Stag roads.
Let us look at our neighbor state
to the north. New York State has
paid dearly for her experience in
building macadam and light di-
luminous roads, financed by 5O-year
bonds. Commissioner +. S. Greene,
of New York State Highway De-
partment, published a very inter
esting article in the Engineering
News Record for August 81 on just
this subject. All those truly inter-
ested in roads as a public invest
ment should not fail to read Com
missioner Greene's conclusions.
He quotes from the official
records of the Highway Department
which show that SO.48 miles of
water-bound macadam roads cost
955,S72.76 to build in 1912, and
| that between that time and Janu-
ary /, 1919, s702,244.99 has been
spent on maintenance. This means
that in less than seven years
| $S,725.71 per mile has been spent
on roads which cost $11,S77.14 per
mile to build. He. states: "I have
discovered enough to convince me
that the life of water-bound ma
cadam or light bituminous macadam
pavement averages about seven
years, and cannot be reckoned be-
yond ten years" Could anyone con-
which cost 80 per cent. of its pur-
chase price to maintain during its
life, and whose life is only frac-
ton of the time covered by the
period of the loan financing it?
| We quote furt her: THE cheap
est reconstruction that we now do
our macadam roads is to lay a new
two-course bituminous macadam
pavement over the old road. AT
! present prices this costs an average
| of $16,700 per mile for a 16-foot
pavement. In Wayne county
Michigan, an old concrete road has
been successfully resurfaced by
| placing a new reinforced concrete
| top of three-inch thickness. Let
us suppose that we would wish to
resurface by placing a nav rein
! forced concrete top, four inches in
! thickness. Then a mile of 16-foot
/: pavement requiring 1,043 cubic
yards of concrete for such resur-
facing at SIS per cubic yard, (Which
is not a low price) would cost
$16,6SS. If these figures are cor
rect, they show that the resurfacing
of n concrete road at the end OF
fourteen or fifteen years is half the
cost of double the resurfacing of q
macadam road. apparently neces-
sary during the same period"
| Again: I'VE have concrete roads
which have cost us less than $50
per mile per year to maintain. We
have concrete roads in main travel
cd routesin this State that have been
down five years and show so little
wear that the broom marks, left as
finish to the surface, are still or
that surface. Our concrete roads
so far as wear is concerned, are as
good as the day after their accept.
ance by the State, and we believe
that we can now build reinforced