Great Falls tribune. [volume] (Great Falls, Mont.) 1921-current, 1922-12-24

roads and were willing to levy a tar
to increase the expenditure.
Use Patrol System
1.-THE expenditures for construction
however, would be meagre when we
considered the job before us, giving
highway service on 1900 miles of road
1t was decided to put patrol mainte-
nance on the entire system, even or
the roads on which construction had
not been done. The theory has been
that maintenance, should be put on a
road after it was built. The Wiscon-
sin idea is that the average dirt OF
gravel road by proper patrol mainte-
nance can be put in condition to ade-
quately carry traffic under normal
weather conditions.
I'VE have 1000 patrolmen on our
1900 mile system, each man covering
on an average, six miles. They are
paid from $3.50 to $16O a month for
man and team, The county furnishes
them a light grader, a road plane, and
other equipment. They are to keep the
roads graded lightly and smoothly, iron
out the ruts and the culverts, the weeds
cut, etc. On roads which have a gravel
or macadam surface the operations are
changed to meet the conditions, such
as the adding of a little material, fill
ing Up holes, etc.
"The patrolmen wear a distinctive
badge with a number and at the end
of each patrol section there is a sign
giving the name of the patrolman and
his residence. They are under $500
bond and must make daily reports.
The county highway commissioner su-
pervises their work, and a state main
tenance engineer ~co-operates with
them. 1t is a thoroughly c%o-ordinated
work.
"There are some sections of road
two narrow ruts-not in shape for
patrol maintenance. Gang maintenance
crews are in each county and these
crews with a heavy blade grader, grade
them at a cost of 500 a mile where
normal conditions are met and filling
or cutting is not needed. This is fol-
lowed by patrol maintenance.
There are certain sections on the
main arteries where the travel is not
intensive and ssufficient funds are not
available for permanent crawling,
where light three-inch temporary sur
face of gravel is put down at a cost Of
from 81, 800 to $500. Patrol mainte-
nance follows and the occasional addi-
ton of a little material and it becomes
an adequate road.
In ON sandy. poor sections. where
gravel is not found and clay is available
the working in of clay on the surface
gives an adequate sand clay road. The
addition of sand to the surface of
slippery clay roads, bad in wet weather,
has vastly improved these roads.
Maintenance Most Valuable
The average cost of maintenance for
all types of %surfacing in Wisconsin is
slightly over $3.50 n year. The result
has been amazing and beyond our ex-
%pectation. II Wisconsin today were put
to the choice of abandoning mainte-
nance or construction they would
abandon construction.
You can drive across the state of
Wisconsin today from the Mississippi
to the lake in a day, where five years
ago it took You three or four days.
You a drive from Eau Claire. 90
miles east of st. Paul, to Milwaukee in
a day. | drive easily from Milwaukee
to Madison, 50 miles, in three hours.
Recently a record was made for the
distance of 50 miles of one hour and
81 minutes. Some years ago the trou-
BILE was TO get to your destination.
Now you are sure of getting to your
destination and, with exceptions. over
very good roads. At the present rate
with our constructive program, our
Improvement program and
our patrol maintenance, every mile of
the $500 miles of our state system
will in three years be an all weather
road. Zen years ago we didn't have
500 miles Of all weather road.
Don't think We have abandoned our
program. At the end of
this year we viii have 1,5OO miles of
built. This yeas we will build
400 miles of this type, about 1000
of gravel construction, some of
it of the temporary type, and will do
1900 miles of grading. Most of our
concrete construction is done under
county bond issues. In 1919, Is coun-
bonded in the sum of S:37, 600. 900
and at the end of two years these
viii each have an average of
100 miles Of paved road.
W find that when a road has been
improved by patrol maintenance it
a continuous demand for i'm
provements to a higher type. The best
Indication of the value of our patrol
IA - As Iiiat dS IL result OF this
maintenance on the state trunk high
way system, 5000 miles of county trunk
highways are now being maintained,
which means that over 1900 miles.
~one-quarter of the states road
Mileage, is being watched every day.
"Ihe major part of the funds from
comes from the motor |
license, which amounts to
1000, 200 a year. One-quarter of this |
s returned to the counties for the
maintenance of the county roads. and
he other three-quarters is retained nv |
he state for maintenance of the state |
trunk. The county ~organiza-
ions do the actual work through the
,a~trolmen, the state furnishing the
and specifications and turning
yer the funds to the counties when the
are maintained up to standard.
Wisconsin's Road Marking
Il say without fear of successful con-
radiction that Wisconsin has the hest
larked system of roads in the world.
AS | noted, one Wisconsin idea IA
hat we must furnish transportation fa-
ilities to the public now, and the other
; that it is the duty of the state to
1ark the roads SO that the public may
e guided on their journey. Our slogan
) that it is harder to get lost on the
Dads of Wisconsin today than it was
find them five years ago.
briefly, we have standardized our
and given a number to each +
f the state trunk highways. Markers
re placed on these roads showing the