Fulton County tribune. (Wauseon, Ohio) 1883-1925, 1921-12-29
HIGHWAY
CONSTRUCTION
FACTS


the county treasury as taxes, direct
ly, and trhu local gun shoe tactics
/ have attempted to dictate to the tax
payer through their officials as to
/ Just what shall be done in the wav
of highway construction, the type of
road and as to the quality and uuan-
! tity of material that shall actually go
into the road. This is not only a 10
cal condition, but, is prevalent thru
out our state.
1t is very easy matter to mislead
the public, but they cannot be fooled
all of the time, especially so. since
the advent of the automobile, which
provides a rapid and economical
means of travel. BY this easy mode
of transportation the automobile own
er in travelling from county to county
and state to state becomes enlighten-
ed as to what is being done elsewhere
and what the value of a good road
really means to him.
The. arrogant interests, however,
have become acquainted with the
facts, and are now unable to proceed
as they formally did, and, are now
directing their efforts in the way of
disseminating propaganda that both
Federal and State government aid in
the construction and maintenance of
our main travelled routes is all
wrong, and that a state highway de-
partment charged with the construc-
tion and maintenance of the Main
j Market Routes and the Intercounty
highways, is an institution thru the
activities of which there is a great
extravaganza of public funds and an
a a rrrso
attact on the taxpayer has been
brought about by the fact that after
failing to further their game thru
local officials they endeavored to
further their interests thru the state
highway departments, where thew are
|, being informed by the departmental
officials that maintenance records of
, the roads constructed and engineer
ing principals in general, and not
personal ideas and selfish motives.
will direct future highway construc-
ton.
/ This being the case this element is
/ lresorting to the most absurd tactics
|, in discrediting the activities of the
State Highway Department, and. ac-
tually are advocating the abolishment
!; OF department of that kind and in
. stllling this prenicious propaganda
into every agricultural interest or
/ ganization in the state.
With modern traffic being Nation.
State and county wide in scope, an
! efficient State Highway DepArtment
: having jurisdiction over interstate
Z routes is an absolute necess;Uy.
: To call your attention to the method
used and the preciniousness of some
: OF the propaganda, we will cite Won
: to statements that were made thru
la Wauseon Newspaper of the
week of December 18th, in refer
ance to the discrimination of the
construction of hard surfaced roads
on the main travelled routes in one of
our adjoining states during the past
|. season and the coming year. A copv
OF the letter received in a reply to an
inquiry of the Fulton County Survey
,, for from Mr.. c. Gray, Chief Engineer,
Indian State Highway Commission,
g of the State of Indiana, is published
herewith, and, we will let you Judge
as to the truthfulness of the press
article.
Indianapolis, Indiana
December 21, 1921
Mr.. R. 1. Bernath,
County Surveyor,
: Wauseon, Fulton County, Ohio.
n Dear Sir:
e This will acknowledge the receipt
of your letter Of December 18th. re-
lative to the type of hard surfaced
pavement laid by the Cimmission dur
$ ing 1921. In reply, will say that we
laid approximately eighty miles of
: hard surfaced pavement during 1921
and seventy-five miles of this was one
course plain cement concrete pave
n ment.
We expect to lay, during 1922, be-
I tween 125 and $50 miles of hard sur
q faced pavements.
We receive bids on pavements onlv,
l namely bituminous concrete ON a six
Q inch concrete base, vitrified brick on
q a five inch concrete base, and one
coarse plain concrete, seven inches
at the edges and eight inches in the
center. Due to the high cost of
9 brick and asphalt pavements, it is
. quite likely that the greater portion
Z of our program for the coming year,
z will be concrete. Both the concrete
and asphalt. roads, which we laid to
date, having laid approximately 125
miles of concrete, and ten miles of
: bltumlnous concrete since the Com
y mission was organized, have been
/ very satisfactory,
: Trusting this is the information
desired, l am,
o Yours very truly,
G. Gray,
y Chief Engineer
II Indiana State Highway Commits
l. sioner.
In the State of Indiana, as in a
number of the central and eastern
Z states where automobile and truck
2 traffic is on a rapid increase, the tax
z paying public is confronted with a
i maintenance problem on her lightly
= open faced constructed macadam ano
y gravel roads on the Main Market
system that, the solution of which
= appears hopeless. Hundreds of thou.
n sands of dollars are being spent an
II nually in an attempt to maintain
'e these poorly constructed roads. Ii
IS view of the fact that the continuation
of the construction of these lightly
constructed, open faced roads will
the accompanying almost prohibitivt
maintenance, leading ultimately to 6
financial embarrassment and uttel
d, ruin, the highway commissioners
e. have become so thoroughly convinc
" ed that they must adopt a policy o.
70 better road construction. One of thu
~ adopted three types of hard surfac
le ed roads is constructed on the mair
st travelled routes wherever there is ap
to be concentration of traffic. Il
i'd persuing this policy of providin,
is better construction to take care O
in the larger volume of traffic, they ar
a reducing a minimum the mainten
or ance on their less important routes
a which in most instances are of grave
hit or traffic bound stone construction
hit By concentrating the most of tn
if traffic on certain direct routes, loca
re farm to market routes can be con
ch structed and maintained in good con
dition at a minimum cost to the ta