The Pensacola journal. (Pensacola, Fla.) 1898-1985, 1920-07-24
WEAK COUNTIES
49, MUST HAVE HELP
r,rrot Raise Enough to Build All
Their Own Roads of Per-
- manent Material.

Tallahassee, July 22.-"Unless the
..ato constitutional amendment. en-
sntyerng the legislature to issue state
50ri for road Improvement, is adopted
~ November, it will be a long time
n,,ore the progressive counties Of CEN
t.,l and southern Florida can be
saocbed over the roads that are even
..esohlv good" said H. G. Cowan, vice
pp.osidpnt Of the Finley Method Co. of
~ovas with headquarters in Jackson
r,no while in Tallahassee on business.
~ have been investigating the prob
.,;Iities Of the counties having the
l.oissing links in the state road sys-
,orn handing, or raising funds other
,,.so In surface their through roads.
ind without exception, that these
.onnties are willing to do all they can
~ nroy,de the necessary funds. They
.borId rot be classed as backward
,.,,T.ios, because they have not al
.oo3y built hard surfaced roads, for
- many instances they have already
So,ded or are preparing to bond for
IL nm amount deemed safe, but the
mount necessary to construct hard
.,,rf,ce roads across some Of these
.onnties is far beyond what they can
raise.
"Recfnning at the Georgia state line
- ctata road No. 2, which extends
,brougb Hamilton, Columbia, Alachua |
Marion. Lake, Polk and DeSoto to Fort
Uvers. in Lee county, there is not a |
ojIa NJ real hard surfaced road until
Mo northern boundary Of Alachua !
.ornfv Is reached. Here, through the |
assistance Of the state road depart |
nenf and the federal aid funds appor-
tioned a section Of - miles Of this i'm
rnrfant trunk line highway is being |
hard surfaced. Couaty funds to the
amount Of $4,000, secured through a
district bond issue, are being used.
"Hamilton has bonded to the full
extent deemed safe and the funds are
In hand, but the funds available for
state road No. 9, would build less
than five miles OF this road, so it is
absolutely necessary that federal aid
and state aid funds be provided to
build the class Of road necessary
across this county to care for the
constantly increasing traffic.
Columbia county has bonded for
100000 for the north and south and
the east and west trunk highways
across that county. OF this amount
Si250OO is for the north and south
road state road No. .. Unless state
and federal aid is forthcoming it will
be a long time before that road can
be surfaced with permanent material.
"Then comes Alachau county, from
Burnett's lake to Gainesville and |
from Gainesville to the Marion county |
line at Evinston. State road No. q
is embraced in a special road and |
bridge district which has already |
voted bends and stands ready to pro-
coed with this work as soon as the
bonds are sold. Here again the
amount is totally inadequate and with
out state aid and federal aid there is
no hope Of this long stretch Of unpaved
road being surfaced. The district has
gone its limit
Marion county is another which has
voted bond issue for haci surfacing
state road No. 2 from us northern to
its southern boundary but the funds
are far from sufficient to build a hard
surface road
! think 1t Is unfair and Unjust to
class these counties as backward be-
cause they have not provided funds
and built hard surfaced roads to con-
meet with adjoining counties.
1t is all very well for a county that
has bonded and build hard surfaced
roads to critiCise others. Each county
has its own problems find that in
each OF the counties I have mentioned
there is spirit Of progressiveness and
Willingness to do all that is possible
10 secure the very best class of roads,
but also find that without assistance
from the state and federal government a..