Belington progressive. [volume] (Belington, W. Va.) 1912-1927, 1919-01-30
ROAD BUILDING

Road building vitality concerns
every tax payer and every automo-
bile owner A right policy makes
the road tax productive. 1t satisfies
those who pay and those who use.
A faulty policy antagonizes both.
This article reeites a series of CON
trasts that point lesson.
Building the Maintenance Into the
Road
There are two alternatives in road
building:
Ito build at low initial cost road
that requires periodical maintenance,
aggregating in few years time
more than the original cost.
2-To build at greater initial cost a
road whose maintenance is almost
negligible.
The first road is in good condition
for only portion Of the period be-
tween times of repair, representing
perhaps 60 per cent of maximum eff
cheney.
The second, requiring only atten-
ton to minor faults which do not af-
feet at all the smoothness of travel,
offers 100 per cent efficiency service
365 days of every year.
The first permits greater initial
mileage but heavy annual mainten-
ance charges eventually prevent new
roads being built, as road funds must
be used to keep the original mileage
in passable condition, leaving little
for new work
The second requires little great
er investment and therefore heavier
interest charges but these amount to
but fraction of the maintenance
charges on the cheaper road--leaving
a generous share of the annual road
appropriations for new work. This
is building the maintenance into the
road.
An Economic Blunder
Building roads that are not per-
manent with long term bond issues
is an economic blunder The roads
are gone while the bonds still de-
mand annual payment Of interest and
eventual refunding by a generation
that has received no benefit. If
through costly maintenance, they
have been kept in reasonable condi-
ton, the total of initial cost, interest
and maintenance is too great, and the
burden Of refunding has been passed
on to generation already burdened
by excessive maintenance.
Bonds Should Pay for Permanent
Roads Only
| Permanent Roads built by bond is
( sues maturing within the reasonable
expectancy Of life Of the road, rep
4 resent least cost to the taxpayers, a.
4 five, ten, or twenty years. Eacl
year Of road service is paid for il
that year,
Maintenance, the heaviest expens,
with the cheaper type, has been built
into the road
Wayne County, Mich, is spending
annually an average of about $3(
per mile to maintain the surface Of
its 1913 miles Of concrete roads, some
of them in their seventh year of ser.
eivc. Auto traffic is exceedingly
heavy
Certain Eastern states whose pol
icy was in the past to build imper
manent roads are spending $500 tx
$1,000 per year per mile to keep those
roads passable. Without this cost,
maintenance, the heavy automobile
traffic would soon make them impass
able.
Wayne County can continue to ex
tend its county road system unit
every farm has a smooth highway Il
market and every point of interes
made accessible to Detroit tourists
Whenever the interest on bonds plu.
the annual refanding charges reacE
an amount beyond which further in
vestment in new roads will not Civ,
proportionate benefits, then new
work will stop.
Communities which have big pro
portion of impermanent roads ar,
helpless. The roads must be main
tanned and the costs are rising steep
ly as auto traffic increases. Mainten
ance is even now being paid out o.
the proceeds of bond issues Which
should go only for new work. But il
is significant to note that the new
construction is with more perman
ent materials.
A Plain Conclusion
The plain lesson for communities
having heavy traffic is to build per.
manently. 1t is better to add small
annual mileage of low maintenance