The Birmingham age-herald., 1921-07-10

1 estimating the number of people
 who might decide to locate here. Recently I had a communication
 from MT. P. K Van Valkenburg. sec
 retary of the Florida Automobile as- sociation, introducing the first vice president. MT. A. G. Blowers of
 Ocala," said MT. Davis, "who came to
 consult the Birmingham Automobile club in regard to routing of tourists
 from the north to Florida. It was my pleasure. of course, to cooperate in every way to effect this arrange
 mcnt l gave him the assurance
 that the State Highway commission
 is now working on the road from De- catur to Cullman. Birmingham and Montgomery, and when that work is accomplished we'd have the finest i highway and the shortest (cutting out many miles from the north to Florida) that it is possible to have.
 have.
 For a great distance south of Cullman,'' MT. Davis continued, "the road now .being worked, will use the old roadbed of the Louisville and
 Nashville railroad, which is practical ly without grade, and is in excellent condition, with the exception of two
 or three detours necessary on account
 of the distance of some small cul- verts or bridges, which were removed
 by the railroad company when they
 changed their right of way. This
 deficiency will be replaced very
 shortly and the roadbed itself scraped off properly and leveled,
 '"The road approaching Birming ham for distance fof 10 miles is
 paved under government specified tions and about the same distance south of here on the Montgomery highway" said Mir. Davis. "The rest of the road to Montgomery is first class chert covered roadway.
 Up to the present date" he con tinued, "our tourists Camp built on plot of 60 acres of ground on the north side of Birmingham, contains the necessary conveniences for the automobile tourist. Of course as the number of tourists increases, we win enlarge the camp--and make inn provements. Sanitation is now pro- vided, and other conveniences, and of course all these will be augmented and improved as l said before when
 the tourist travel increases.
 "Of course the work of the Br- mingham Automobile club in the city proper has been a source of pleasure to us because we have found the most cordial co-operation." said MT. Davis
 Take our platforms or safety
 zones for instance. The automobile club inaugurated the first ones and the city immediately passed favorably on theplan and built others. It was the same way with the signals; these in protection of the congested traffic of the city have been splendid asset as well as the 'barrels'-the signals for drive to the right, which, no doubt, have prevented many an ac- cident which otherwise might have taken place.
 "Out at St. Charles and Tenth ave nue." MT. Davis said, i've have i'm stalled our first reflex danger sig nal which is operated on the princi- plo of angular reflection. When the lights of an approaching automobile fall upon the signal a commanding red light appearing as a ball of fire is returned to the driver.
 whenever there is an obstruction anywhere in the streets and the auto. mobile club Is notified of it. we promply give assistance" Mr Davis
 said, this being function, we would like to have the public know we
 cheerfully grant As for instance glass in the streets; if we receive a telephone message or verbal mes
 sage that glass is found in the
 streets. which is. of course, liable to
 puncture the tires of automobiles,
 and do serious damage to the car. we at once have the glass removed. It
 would be a surprise to the people of Birmingham to know how many bar