Norwich bulletin., 1922-02-09
BENNETT SAYS STATE MUST GO
EASY IN BUILDING or ROADS

Nearly 200 members Of the Norwich
Rotary club, Chamber of Commerce and
guests of both civic bodies turned out to
greet State Highway Commissioner
Charles J. Bennett of Hartford. who was
the speaker at the MONDAY luncheon of
the Rotary club at the Wauregan hotel
on Wednesday. Mr.. Bennett proved to
be an able speaker and the facts he pre-
sented regarding the problems that face
the state highway department were given
In such manner that everyone was
given q clear insight into the difficulties
that the department has to cope with in
the maintenance of the present highways
and the reconstruction of the old and
the building OF new highways
In opening his address Mr.. Bennett
said: This Is the winter OF our discon-
tent" We are IKE boy with picture
puzzle-we have 50 many things to con-
slider 1t is hard to tell where to begin.
The problems confronting the highway
department are two-fold: First. the con-
struction of new roads, and. second, the
reconstruction of the old roads.
The new roads must be built heavier
| and better than the road OF yesterday,
| for every year the traffic on our high
| ways Increases, and these roads must
| give the service. The New London turn
| that should be bs1ft, and all roads in the
! future must be of this type. The recon-
! struction of the old roads which are
| rapidly going to pieces is a serious prob
| lem and Is made more so by the lack OF
| sufficient funds to replace these roads
| with highways of the modern type. The
| public must be patient.
In the state there are IL 900 miles Of
/ highway exclusive of city streets. OF
this 10000 miles of highway, 1900 miles
| are trunk lines, and out Of these 80.
| miles has been improved to a greater OF
less degree. This leaves 10000 miles Of
/ other roads to be considered It is ou
| of the question to think that the stat,
| can do this in short time. for the yer,
| best we could do In a 40 year period i
we had sufficient means would be abou
1000 miles. During the last 81 year
we have succeeded in improving onl,
about 500 miles of road. Now, to z,
back to the 1914 miles Of improved road
there is now about 72s miles that need
to be reconstructed. It costs at the pres
ent time approximately $40 900 per mil
to construct a good durable concrete roai
so that the total cost of constructin
| these 729 miles of road would be abou
$22 900 900. Where could we get thi
money? The state has only about $500
GOO to work with SO the people of Con
necticut will have to be patient for
time. I can pick out at the present tim
about so miles of road that needs i'm
mediate attention. but 1 cannot tell 20
where 1t is because 1t would cause dis
| satisfaction. When I give out that
| piece of road in the western part of tn
state is to be improved, then there is a
outburst from the eastern part of tn
| state and when the work is being don
in the eastern part the west is doing tn
criticizing. 1t is hard to satisfy the pub
lie, and the reason is that we have nc
sufficient funds
/ We will have more to do with anotht
: year, as the rates Of the registration
: motor vehicles have increased as n
e doubt everyone is aware. This will Civ
l us about one million dollars more t
e work with. so that in another year
h | will be possible to reconstruct this :
| miles of road We recognize the eno
NIFTY of the job and we are going to &
the best we can. as we have exceller
staff whoe motto is the same as the RI
tary club. Service
There are several reasons for the tr,
: nendous expense of the maintenance
: | the roads in the state. One Is that IL
! people give more thought and spend mo-
money on the autos than they do on II
roads. We have in Connecticut aboi
!. 10000 automobiles of the passenger C;
? type and the average cost per machil
. Is $1,000, making total worth OF ca
4 about 500. 900, 900
u How much have we spent on Is,
10 miles of road since 1895? In round fl
, ures the amount is approximately SO;
" 100000, a sum that has never be.
Is raised by highway bonds but all fro
u. current income, showing a very healtl
y state of affairs. The development Of I