St. Johnsbury Caledonian. (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1920-1920, 1920-04-21
GOOD ROADS
ADVOCATED AT
\ CONFERENCE
Gathering of Caledonia Co.
Town Officers to Dis
cuss Highways


state highway commissioner, an
Marshall M. Stocker of Danvillt
district commissioner. met the roa
commissioners, sciectmen and patrol
men of the various towns in Calcdo
mia county in Pythian hall Wednes
day for the annual road conference
Several officials from towns il
Orange and Essex counties wer
present. Mr.. Bates told the men !,
was the largest of all the conference
he had held this year.
Mr.. Bates did most of the speak
ing but throughout the morning ano
afternoon sessions he was freuuentl,
interrogated by the men whose prob
lens were discussed at the open fo.
rum. Mr.. Bates explained the various
features Of the road law and touched
upon many interesting points in con-
nection with road construction and
maitenance.
He said in 1919 the state had 1918
miles of patrolcd roads and the en-
tire expense of this work cost
$270,362.1G. He expected that 1900
miles woul d be patrollcd in 1920 and
he thought the limit had about been
reached.
He said the bridge question was the
biggest problem the department had
and that in the past four years be-
tween $50 and 800 bridges had been
built in the state. He spoke of the
necessity Of having strong bridges be-
cause of the increased use of heavy
trucks, and believed that the time was
soon coming when the roads would be
classified thc 2 some roads might be
protected from the traffic of the
heavy trucks. He urged the officials
to keep their bridges in good repair
as the town was liable in case of acci-
dent, and he explained the advantage
Of having the planks laid lcngthwise
on the bridge instead of crosswise.
He urged the selectmen to keep per-
manent record of the condition Of all
their bridges and to have the bridges
carefully inspected. He went into
some detail telling tho officials pres
ent how the state would help them
build their bridges and urged cement
construction instead of plank wher-
ever practical. The approaches must
be carefully guarded and he favored
having level of 10 feet on the ap-
proach to the bridge to prevent
"pounding" when an automobile run
ming at high speed struck the
bridge.
Mr. Bates spoke of how the FEEDER
al government was aiding the state
in building good roads. He said that
Vermont's allotment from the nation
al treasury for the five year period
was s1.244,OOO. This was apportioned
according to the area, population and
road mileage of each state. In allot-
ing this money to the various coun-
ties in the state on the same plan M.
Bates said he had set aside
$1S3, ,G3531 for Caledonia county.
Federal projects had already been
developed in Hardwick and Barnet
and a third project was under con-
sideration. After road is built by
tho joint expenditure of the Federal
and state money the state has to pay
for it's maintenance. MI. Bates
thought eventually this would be
such a problem that the Federal gov
eminent would have to keep the
roads in repair. He said he had vi
sion that many of those present would
live to see the day when Federal con-
structcd roads extended from state to
state, and that the projects in Ver-
mont were built with the hope that |
eventually they would all be connect
ed as trunk lines. Answering the
question as to where the public came
in that did not live on these Selected
and state roads, Mr.. Bates
said that the state had an appropria-
tion Of $4,000 to be used exclusively +,
on unsolicited highways.
MI. Bates spoke in closing of the !
gift to the state of the Federal
trucks that were either used or built i
to use in the war. He said Vcrmont's
allotment was 101 trucks, many of
them absolutely new, and that ga
rage costing $4,000 had been built
at Montpelier to house them when
not in use. The state has already re-
,eived 81 of these. The trucks when
received were not equipped for road
work and had to have new bodies and
,ther changes to make them suitable
or peace rather than war purposes.
He thought the towns should pay
air price rental for the use of these
rucks and the highway department.
lad decided to charge a rental of s.
. day for tho trucks, the town to pay
or the oil and gasoline and to pay
he wages of the driver which the
tate would furnish. He urged the
own officials to arrange their road
work. so that all towns that desired
ould uso these trucks during the
eason when road construction could
% done at the best advantage.
Commissioner Bates left for New
ort Thursday morning where the |
nnual road conference will be held !
nth the officials of the various towns ,
f Orleans county.