The Sauk Centre herald. (Sauk Centre, Stearns County, Minn.) 1886-current, 1922-04-27
GOOD ROADS Plan
PASSES mile POST
EXTENSIVE TRUNK ROUTE UN-
DER NEW HIGHWAY DEyEL-
OPMENT PROGRAM
MUCH DONE; MUCH TO BE DONE
FIRST ANNIVERSARY BULLETIN
TOTALS BETTERMENTs IN
TWELVE MONTHS

The Babcock Good Roads plan,
adopted under Amendment No. ! to
pull Minnesota out of the mud, has
been in effect just one year.
The state highway development
program was made effective April 70,
1921. after Governor ]. A. o. Preus
signed the new highway legislation
and re-appointed Charles NJ. Bah
cock state highway commissioner 10
launch the new plan he devised. john
H. Mullen, chief engineer, was NAM
ed first assistant commissioner ana
the highway executives at once be-
gan organizing and spreading road
betterments, starting at the zero
mark. Within 60 days nearly l,OOO
patrohnen, one for each 5-mile aver
age section, were put at work and
hundreds of miles of new construc'
ton was placed under contract.
A bulletin from the state highway
department contains the following
summary of progress during the nrst
12-months: period
GRADING completed in s15 miles
and contracted for 1886 addltlonai
miles. and reshaping done on l,lal
miles of tht 1,499 mile total listed as
graded on the 7,00O-mile system When
taken over from the counties.
GRAVEL sURFACING completed
on $50 miles and contracted for ez0
additional miles, and re-suriaclng
done ON 1886 miles of the l 81 mile
total listed by counties as graveieo
at the state start.
PAVING completed on Ito mlies
and contracted on 123 miles, compaf'
ed with 112 miles of pavement on the
= 000-mile system when taken over. 8
MAINTENANCE provided on $3.50
miles Of designated trunk routes--
well-equipped patrol service aao eaci
5-mile average stretch augmented
with special operatio S by Dig 'rucA
and tractor fleets.
CONTRACTS AWARDED at law re-
cord prices which afford b'g savings
over costs in past years ana ehapie
the department 20 continue progress
showing in spite IL redu' IONS ~
available funds.
ADMINISTRATION facilitated ny
acquisition of hn'.lirg erected
pressiy for department and leased a.
less than half pr, Gus rensa' ,a'es'
administration expa 81: kept wen oe-
low 5 per cent leve..
The anniversary bulletin follows
others to keep the public fully M
formed about road plans and progre ?.
Mans and graphs have been issued 70
chow how and where funds are beng
nsed and wide distribution OF ne"
construction that the largess possible
unmber of localities may share perm
anent improvement as well as gen,
.-.l maintenance benefits. hllciaI
f.rres disclosed that 79 out OF the 50
counties in the state received 'mA
betteuments costing more than tneir
respective totals of motor venice la az
PAYMENTS by an average ra.to .. ~
to 81. and that trunk routes ~ the
other counties were either in excellent
condition or listed for early permah
emit improvement.
Commissioner Babcock referred 70
two handicaps confronting the de
partment during the first year; fail
ure of fund revenues to reach expect
ed totals and inability to take advan-
tage of bargain prices offered by con-
tractors to extend needed read I'M
nroyements. He explained that the
nlan was based on the expectation
That NOT less than $8,8S40,000 would
be provided annually Sc, OOO, 900 OF
motor vehicle tax money and Sz,-i
$4,000 Of federal aid. The hrst an
nual fund was $7,73O, 600, the automo-
bile tax averaging less than $16.75 IN
stead Of $18 and producing $500, GOO
and congress having reduced the aud
appropriation and cut Minnesota's
auportioanent to $3.50, 600. The
second year promises even less 1ed-
eral aid, pending proposals at Wash
ineton to afford only 1,420, 900, and
no increase is predicted in the tax
revenue. For those reasons the
trunk funds for the first two years
win be $l4,750O0O or nearly 5000,
600 less than was expected and only
about a third Of the total provided Tor
use on the local or secondary roads,
according to official figures.
Fund eurtailments Offset to some
extent by lower costs on road work.
highway officials express condolences