St. Tammany farmer. [volume] (Covington, La.) 1874-current, 1920-02-14

federal aid, all roads On which suct
aid may be applicable, must be in
spected and approved by duly au.
thorized Government Engineers be-
fore any work is done. It is furtheI
understood that should work be done
before securing this approval, no fed.
eral aid can be hoped for afterwards
In other words, an approval by the
proper Government officials showing
that the Government will participants
in the expense of improving the
roads, must be secured before the
work is begun. Otherwise, all
chances for federal aid will be for
feited. SAass7-@- ss-. 5--. e=7
The commission further under
understands that the laws are so ar
ranged as to prohibit Government
Engineers from approving, for fed.
eral aid, any roads other than those
selected by the State Highway De-
partment. Therefore, SO long as the
State Highway Department of Lou
isiana Withholds it's consent to ap-
proval by Government Engineers Of
any of our parish roads that may be
entitled to federal aid, this Commits
sion cannot make move towards
impro cement of such roads.
This Commission has expended
much time and effort and consider
able money in doing the preliminary
work, such as making surveys, draw
ing plans, specifications, etc., neces-
sary to submission of the projects in
proper form to the State Highway
on most ce the parish
roads that may be entitled to fed
eral aid, with the intention and ex-
pectation of having work on all such
roads underway before this time
After numerous requests to the
State Highway Department for CO.
operation and assistance, and after
much delay, one of the Government
visited our parish a short
time since and approved two small
projects which he had been request
ed by the State Highway Department
to approve. He stated that he could
not pas upon any other roads until
requested to do so by the Louisiana
State Highway Department. You
can readily see, therefore, that our
work is as a complete standstill so
Tar as concerns any other of our
parish roads that may be entitled to
federal aid.
So far, this Commission has not
been advised that the State Highway
has given its consent for
he necessary approval by the Gov
,rnment Engineers, nor has this
Commission received any informa-
ion as to the reasons why the State
Highway Department has not taken,
,r will not take, action. Communl
;ations addressed to the State High
way Department by members of this
Commission on that subject remain
Without federal aid to the exten.
VI every cent to which our parish
oads may be entitled, it will be irn
possible for this Commission to do
more than a minor proportion of
he road improvement work outlined
n the program, which is embodied |
n the ordinances adopted by the |
Police Jury in connection with the
food Roads Bond Issue Every. |
tenn of expense in this work has in
reased to such an extent that the |
und available from this bond issue |
S insufficient for execution of the |
complete.
In view of the conditions outlined |
n the foregoing, this Commission |
suggests and urges that
our honorable body, in an effort to
rotect the interests Of the people |
f our parish make formel and earn
st protest against the treatment that
5 being imposed by the State High
ray Department upon our parish
Dads, which, from the standpoint
f this Commission, is improper and
nfair.
For your information, we attach
ereto copy of report made by Mr..
[uckaby, Engineer of this Commis-
ion. under date of January 17th,