Willmar tribune. [volume] (Willmar, Minn.) 1895-1931, 1919-01-15
ROAD PROBLEMS
nj :jy7EtE7 80 -. afexF sEssY . -.
OF THE:STATE
Babcock'. Plan. for Improvement
:. of Minnesota Highways. u
BY HARRY G.. DAVIS

2. Of Minnesota Highways. u
BY HARRY G.. DAVIS
Mr.. Chairman and Gentlemen
Your presence at this enthusiastic
gathering today assures me that there
Is little need Of presenting any
lengthy arguments in favor Of road
improvement in Minnesota. Never
theless, it will enable me the bet
ter to explain the comprehensive
program for permanent road building
in the state, as outlined by our cap
able and progressive commissioner,
Mr.. Babcock, if preface the explain
alton with a brief consideration of
road problems and the need of ex-
tensive road building. An outline of
these problems and needs, you will
see, leads us directly to the merits
of the plan which is being officially
recommended to the Legislature,
In considering the problem of good
roads, our attention is at once direct
ed to two closely allied questions:
First, that of transportation, and
second, the more technical question
of road construction. A thorough
that of transportation automati-
cally leads us to proper and salts
factory solution Of the second prob
lem. In other words, it is a simple
engineering question to build roads
if we first understand exactly what
burdens of transportation will be
placed on these roads.
New Era Of Transportation.
We are simply stating an axiom
when we say that we are now in the
first stages of a new era of transport
tation. For the past dozen years, we
have seen the automobile rapidly re-
placing the horse in pleasure and
light commercial traffic. We are
now witnessing the motor truck sup
plant the horse in heavy commercial
transportation, and it will be only a
we see the motor truck take the
place of the railroad train in the
transportation of freight in less thar
carload business. This has already
taken place in many parts of the
east and would be an accomplished
fact today in Minnesota were oul
roads of type which would make
the operation of the motor trucl
practical.
A Road Census.
Even close students of highway
transportation problems have beer
startled by the revelations of a traf
fic census taken on thirty-four state
roads in Minnesota during the sum
mer Of 1918. These roads were stu
ated in various parts of the state
and were carefully selected so tina
the average of the traffic on then
might safely be considered the aver
age of the traffic on all state roads
The census on each road was taker
for seven-day period and the re
suits carefully tabulated. The traf
f1c was divided into two classes, ligh
and heavy, and each Of these classe!
again subdivided. Automobiles anc
horse-drawn buggies were considered
light traffic and motor trucks ant
horse-drawn wagons were classified
as heavy traffic. The tabulatee
counts of traffic on the thirty-fou,
roads revealed that 81 per cent Of
the light traffic was automobiles
while only six per cent was horse
| ul own. l1S SICCh vi luC HCdF
traffic was motor propelled while on
ly IS per cent was horse-drawn. A
comparison with the traffic census Of
1917 on the same roads, shows thai
there was an increase in the use oil
motor trucks on our public Highways
OF 400 per cent in one year.
What the future holds in store fol
us in the matter of motor truck
- ~ tot TN -
but 1t Is very certain that the roads
Of the future will have to be con
structed with view to this kind
of traffic in ever-increasing volume
In order to prepare for this traffic
! it is necessary to change the type OF
our road construction and this
brings us squarely to one of the
controlling considerations which
have resulted in Mr.. Babcocks re.
concentrations to the legislature.
Motor Truck Problem.
In addition to forcing the con-
struction of different type OF
road to carry this traffic, the motor
truck has still another effect on the
road problem, namely, that of in
creasing the length of routes. Where
the horse-drawn vehicles used to de-
smand road ten or a dozen miles
long, the motor truck now travels
fifty or seventy-f1ve miles with equal
ease and equal expense. This COM
pels us to treat the road problem on
| a larger scale, or rather as a larger
unit than was previously the Gus
tom.
1t always had been necessary to
treat the highway question from the
point of some unit. For instance as
an individual road, as local road
district as township system, as a
county problem or from a state or
national point of view. When the
preponderous proportion of traffic
was horse drawn and the maximum
distance was twelve or fifteen miles,
the county unit was the maximum
basis of which it was proper to treat
the problem. This was recognized