The Washington herald., 1921-12-17
SUPERINTENDENT
FORMS OF TRANSPORTATION
Sees Dire Need of Reform in Road Building and
National Cooperation.

highway legislation has been hap
hazard. without definite plan. There
should be undertaken at once by the
National Government a thoroughly
planned system of national highways,
and these should be so laid out and
constructed as to give the largest
possible use of existing railways,
highways and waterways. There are
approximately in the United States
100000 miles of alleged highways.
There are 100000 miles, substantially.
of railways. The cheapest cost of
moving a ton a mile on the Great
Lakes was nine-tenths OF / mill. as
demonstrated in the movement of ore
by the Albert Is. Wolvin. The cheap
est form of transportation known was
on the Chesapeake and Ohio Railway,
where coal tonnage was moved to
tidewater for l mill and a tenth per
ton per mile. The cost of moving
a ton per mile on the different classes
of highways IN the United States has
not yet been accurately determined
We must elaborate some system OF
determining the cost af making
transportation. 1t is a commodity
like boots and shoes. dry goods or
-four. When this cost is determined
it must be ascertained just what
proportion of the tonnage required
can most efficiently be moved over
the highways. over the waterways
and over the railways; and this tom
mage. when so determined, must be
moved by the least expensive route.
The problem is to get the mouth to
the food Or the food to the mouth.
When we began highway improve
=. he - -
ago, there were approximately so
lower cost than IL it is carried in
one-ton vehicles, but to operate the
heavier vehicles requires a heavier
and more expensive road. The eco
nomic problem, therefore. is to bal
ance the greater cost of the
stronger road against the lower OPP
Grating cost Of the heavier vehicle.
To determine how much more can
he economically expended to build
a road for traffic of 5-ton instead
of 2-ton vehicles the saving in cost
of operation per ton-mile must be
multiplied by the number of tom
miles carried during the year, and
the result will be an annual saving
in operation, which, capitalized, is
the amount that can be spent to
strengthen the road to carry 5-ton
instead of 2-ton vehicles.
1t must be evident. therefore, that
| If the traffic of the heavier We
hicles use a given space, the saving
in operating cost by their use can
| not be sufficient to justify the ad-
ditional expense of the stronger
road, while if the traffic of such We
| hicles is large the saving may more
than offset the greater construction
cost. 1t appears, therefore, that the
| facts with regard to traffic that
must be known before any intelli-
| gent decision as to the type and dit
| mensions of the road can be reached
are as follows:
l. The maximum weight of We
| hicle.
.. The volume of tfaffic.
O. The relative proportion of
heavy and light loads in the traffic.
! 1t is this last-named fact that is
| difficult to determine in advance OF
/ construction. In its unimproved con-
dition il is likely that the road has
been used by but few heavy We
hicles. simply and solely because of
| it's condition. When the condition
is improved the chances are that tn,
number of large vehicles that will
| be operated over 1T will be in.