Evening star., 1921-04-24

weight on four wheels than is allowed
oy the several states at the present
time. Twenty-eight thousand pounds on
TOUR wheels was considered the practi-
cal road limit.
Safety and Beauty Provided.
How about the safety. convenience and
beauty of the road? OF course, a forty
foot paved road would be safe to be-
gin with. 1t allows plenty of room
between vehicles, even at peak hours of
traffic congestion. But the committee
decreed, with surprisingly quick una
at present found along the greater pro-
portion of our country roads. should go.
The ideal section viii be- drained -
catch basins and submerged lille und
the earth shoulders. No danger of be-
ing crowded into a ditch There viii
be none there.
The other dangers of present roads
result from three conditions-firss. TN
necessary and narrow radius curves,
frequently insufticientiy banked or
superelevated: second. from dark
ness and glarins headlights. and third,
from pedestrisnism.
The committee provided that the
ideal road should have no curves Of
a radius of less than 1.GG0 feet, and
that such curves as were necessary
should be ''superciey ated,' which
means tipped up at ths outer edge. to
allow for speed of thirty-five miles
per hour. In other words, so built
that you can round them at that
S~Aed with safety. 1t provided for
I'd fsnE of Of the she use r0afs OF
u. the open country. and it added 4
footpath for pedestrians Remem-
Der. these decisions were unanimous
The committee lost no time in coming
to an agreement on these points.
Officials of the Lincoln Highway AS
sociation were to some extent sur
prised by the emphasis laid by the
practical men on this committee on
the Importance of Identification. The
committee Immediately agreed upon
the necessity of esthetic considera-
tions. and, in allowing twenty-five
feet of right t-ofway at the outer edge
for development by a landscape archi-
tect. provided also in it's recomme nda-
sites. comfort stations and other ia
cilitieS for the comfort and enjoy
ment of the traveller.
The safety and convenience of the
travelling public were further consid
cred in the provision for protection of
all embankments with guard rails
and warning signs and the elimina-
ton of all railroad crossings at grade.
and the removal of all obstructions
in so far as possible. for 500 feet each
ing a clear view of the coming travel
on crossroads.
Advertising Signs TabOOed.
The committee emphatically pro-
nounced against advertising signs along
highways and recommended that ulti
mately all distance markers and such
other signs as might be necessary for
the information and guidance of tourists
be placed or authorized only by proper
state and federal authorities and that
distance markers be standardized in
character and distances between points
uniformly figured from unicipal head
quarters.
Along the ideal section there will be
no unsightly wires, Is these will run
underground in conduits.
1t may be difficult for the layman, un-
accustomed to seeing. in his minds eye,
the final, collective. tangible appearance
Of set of specifications. to visualize
such an ''idear' road. But it will not be
necessary to confine your vision of this
highway to a mental conception. The
general determinations. reached after
such long and careful consideration, will
Association in the hands of highly
competent highway engineer and an
equally competent landscape architect.
These two, working in collaboration, will
fit the general specifications to the spe-
cific location determined upon, and the
association hopes it will not be long be-
fore the American public and those in
terested in highway construction. can
drive over and inspect. photograph and
study. an actual section of this ideal