The Bennington evening banner. (Bennington, Vt.) 19??-1961, 1920-06-12
BETTER HIGHWAYS ARE
VITAL NEED OF STATE
Development of Roads Would Mean
Great Aid to Summer Traffic
Throughout State.

mont now 49, we Dell6Ne neT pest l6du
from an economic point of view is the
early beginning and consistent prose
cution of a well-conceiyed program Of
general highway Improvement Yer
mont will not develop until travelling
throughout the state is made cheaper,
easier and more comfortable than it
is at present 1t will develop with
this essential agency properly attend
ed to.
We regard our Vermont roads as
good, and so they are, in way. On
the whole, or rather on the average
they serve the ordinary needs of our,
people fairly well. There has been
steady and general Improvement on
them for the past 10 or Is years until,
during the summer season the main
thoroughfares are quite satisfactory
most of the time, for motor vehicle or
team traffic. The side or hill roads
compare fayorably with the generally
poor and neglected ones Of other
states.
Yet our public highways fall very
far short of the ideal of what Yer
mont needs or deserves, in her pres
ent situation During the month or
six weeks of spring, when the snow
lis leaving and the frost coming out Of
the ground, nobody travels over them
unless compelled to. Except the new
ly laid, we'll drained and highly crown
ed gravel roads (Which soon deterio'
rate to the common standard under
the neglect and lack of resurfacing
they received, they are difficult, un-
pleasant and sometimes imposs BILE of
passage on account Of mud, During
periods Of drouth in summer they are
dusty and sandy, limiting the leads
that can be carried over them and GER
Itainly the comfort to be derived in
ltraversing them All through summer
except the short new stretches, they
are rough and rutty, wearing alike
upon man, motor and beast. During
fall and early winter comes the rainy
and frozen period, with alternate mud
tslime and teeth-loosening roughness.
Only in midwinter, when deep snow
theoretically covers them, are our Yer
mont highways the equal CT our sister
Estates. They are at all times, speak
| ing of them as a whole, narrow, poor
| ly surveyed and poorly graded. Any
one who has studied this road ques-
ton or spent much time investigating
can arrive at but one conclusion. viz,
that our main Vermont thoroughfares
are inferior nakeshifts compared
with those Of other states; which
comparison is both proper and perth
nent, inasmuch as transportation IA.
cilities form so important link in
the economic system and have so
vital bearing on the welfare of any
section.
And Vermont has SO much to gain
from really good roads-~meaning the
hard, permanent kind, wide, we'll
drained, as straight and we'll graded
as conditions permit, easily trayers-
able as minimum of effort at all
seasons Of the year; roads that laugh
at mud or dust and to which ruts are
unknown; such roads, whether of
cement asphaltum or inacadam prop
erly bound, as ether states are build
ing and have been for years, Vermont
is state of highways hundreds of
miles of them; over which the great
bulk OF our commodities, produced or
gseds have TO go. Whether transpor-
,ation costs arc high or low means as
much or mere to Vermont as ii possib
| ly can to any state. Our business in
terests are scattered, not centered,
and anything that reduces the dis
lance between them, whether the town
or the farm, means the removal of a
handicap which they now suffer com
pared with other sections better sery-
ed. If it meant nothing added from
outside our borders we could we'll af-
ford big outlay for better highways
IN our own account.
But ii does mean much to Vermont
in her bid for people and for business
from outside. Give us 500 miles of
tirSt-class modern highways in Yer
mont and the future would take care
Of itself. Within FIVE years we should
be discovered like virgin state, by
lunnumoered thousands of people TO
whom We are new but a small back
woods country without attractions
that interest them Lay down the
gateways of these fine roads at few
convenient points of access on our
borders with Welcome to Yer
mont sign overhead and Dig tide
Of travel would set in almost immedi-
ately, leaving not only its vacation
dollars behind but carrying back home
their good reports and their awakened
interest for the future.
II is a great mistake to suppose that
a big tourist influx to Vermont would
be merely temporary or seasonal in
its return. In addition would come
an appreciation Of Vermont gained
through actual touch that would mean
a natural and steady impulse in the
right direction Permanent residence
would follow summer residence and
linVestment in Vermont enterprises
would succeed in awakened interest
and investigation into their possibili
ties. This has occurred in Florida
California and everywhere else that
summer or winter travel has set in
Why net in Vermont?
Z We have the Garden of Eden in Yer
mont during the summer and autumn
seasons, No other part of this coun
| try equals the natural beauties and
ATTRACTIONS we offer Thousands OF
people will come and enjoy them with
us if we will only give them travelling
facilities that will please them make
a certain publicity effort to inform
Lthnn1 hnIsn and food them com fNrIa h