Every evening, Wilmington daily commercial., 1920-11-30
FACILITIES FOR
TRANSPORTATION
Problems Considered at the Re
cent Federal Highway Council
Committee Here.


cng,neers. highway officials and scientific
men in leading universities, at the recent
meeting Of the sub-grade committee of
the Federal Highway Council held here
unde. the craftsmanship Of General L.
Coleman du Pont of New York.
Among the scientific men attending
were Professor Hector J. Hughes, dean
Harvard Engineering School, Cambridge.
Mass A. +. Goldbeck. testing engi-
necr. Bureau of Public Roads. " ashing-
ton ID. C.: Prof +. II. Emo, chair of
engineering. Ohio State University, III. T..
Hilts of the PENNSYLVANIA State Highway
department, II. G.. Shirley. of the Federal
Highway Council and Ira b. Mullis,
Bureau of Public Roads, Washington.
d. G..
Reports We're made 10y problem commit
tees working under a main committee.
Durng the discussion which followed the
presentation of these reports. the state
mcnt WAS made by ". L. Blair of Clcve-
land. Ohio, that twenty million people
had been added 10 the population ot the
United States practically without one
inch being added to the transportation
facilities Of the country and that on top
Of this increased population vas an m
creased. tonnage due To greater buying
bv the people equal 10 another twenty
million. making total of practically
fifty million, in the face of inadequate
transportation The result OF this IN
creased tonnage. II was asserted had been
10 break down roads through no fault OF
construction. but because traffic growth
had not been taken into full account
The development Of railway engineer
ny was used as an example 10 show why
lhesvicr type highw avs -iaust he built
slnce the same law of tonnage cwth
xppltes to both the railway and the high
vay. In the case of railway. NJ Blaj,'
asserted. the LAYING Of heavie ,ails. en-
larging tunnels and reducing adcv has
been going ON constantly during the past
thirty or furtv yeas, and vet the highway
without a comparative development, had
been called upon within the last ten yeas
u sustain o traffic growth unoqu0lled IN
any like period in the history OF the coun-
Try The situation this c-eated, II was
pointed out. called for a determined
effort 10 build bette. road foundation IN
order that breaks in the surface may be
eliminated.
Gen du Pont followed Mr. Blair with
the statement that the problem Of the
subgrsde, o. road foundation. WAS the
most irnpo7tant duty before highway
belief. as a result Of experiene in highway
development, that the foundation p-oh-
lem must be solved and solved speedily
n;ne-wisc the movement 10 round ont 4
complete system - county. State and intt4
ate highway anspoltation will be
lptstded - the gtcat detriment 10 the
american public
G. VI pham. State Highway eng,neet
al Delawae e explaincdhow his depa =
meut WAS making field tests to determine
me hearing powe. oi various kinds If
soil and what methods 10 pursue IN order
10 increase that sust aiming power and thus
prevent the breaking down Of the road
surface
On the point S road failures. Mr..
Shirley. former State highway engineer
~ MArvland, called attention TO the fact
that roads sre sometimes charged ulti4
having failed, despite the fact that in
-cttlsl service they may have saved thei.
cast many times over before reaching the
point where reconstruction becomes neces-
sary. He hoped. he said. that the public
would take this fact into account IN Their
iu,ure Discus ions relating 10 road build
ing
= NJ Williams, chairman OF the Fed
erAl Highunv Council addressed the
committee briefly upon fae imp rtance OF
conducting the sub-grade research work
As rapidly As possible in order that road
buiidine upon greater scale than eve.
before may go forward without Nasteful
expenditure OF funds upon roads that
soon D owe unequal 10 the burden thrust
apon them. through a lack of prope-
understanding Of the soil upon which the
Subg-ade rests
y IL
tons of the United States are TO be con-
Quoted simultaneously and reports made
st subsequent meetings OF the sub-grade
committee The work Is unde4 the direc-
tion of the Federal Highway Council.
rhich hopes through the movement now
undertaken 10 same millions OF dollars to
the public in the future, in the construc-
ton OF roads that will not fail