The Ward County independent. [volume] (Minot, Ward County, N.D.) 1902-1965, 1922-10-12
MlN0T PRINTERS BANQUET EN-
PL0YERS AND LADIES SUNDAY
Big Road Building Program Ahead

Fifteen to twenty years of building
good roads lie ahead Of the United
States. Under the program which
the country has adopted there, will be
built, during that time, 100000 miles
of improved highways which will con-
stitute the Federal-aid highway sys-
tenn and an equal or greater mileage
of State and local roads. When the
great job is done, the transportation
facilities of the country will far ex
ceed those of any other nation, past
or present, in the world. The high
ways of the ancient Romans, whose
fame has come down through the
centuries, will pale by comparison.
Details of this vast road building
program are to be placed before the
Highway Education Board at its con-
ference in Washington October 26 to
28, inclusive, by State Highway En-
gineers and officials of the Bureau of
Public Roads, United State Depart
ment of Agriculture, to whom has
been entrusted the work Of planning
and supervising the construction Of
Federal-aid highways. The plan will
be presented to enable the Board to
proceed authoritatively with its work
Of devising aids for schools and col
leges to which road builders Of the
country are turning for competent
highway engineers.
Officials Of the bureau place the
aggregate cost Of the Federal aid pro-
gram alone at about $4,000, 900, 900,
spread over the twenty-year period.
They base this estimate on an average
cost, in turn, takes into consideration
cost Of ST., 900 per mile. The average
all classes of improved roadways from
the cheapest to the most expensive
types. Approximately one-third of
the proposed system, or $4,000 miles
of improved highways, already are
either built or building.
The program is a new one. Up to
comparatively recent years, road
building in the United States had
been conducted without special regard
to national system. Highways had
been constructed where needed with
out considering whether they would
link up in the most effective manner
with the whole network of roads to
be spread over the Nation. Engineers
had sought more to meet immediate
and local demands than the broader
requirements of the States and ma
tion. 49,
The present Federal-aid road build
ing program, officials Of the bureau
state, will contemplate the construc-
tion of only such roads as fit into the
national program and contribute to
the national system. At the same
time the roads will be so selected as
to serve the most important local re-
quirements. With marked modifica
tions, the system adopted in building
the railways of the country will be
borne in mind in the construction of
the country's new highways. There
will be main lines Of highway COM
munication between centers and thou
sands of miles of feeder roads, reach
ing back into the more sparsely set
tied regions and into the rich agricul-
tural sections, to tap areas whose pop
ulation and products will flow over
the new system.
New roads will be planned and built
thousands Of miles Of them-where
they will fit in most advantageously
with the entire program. The bureau
is continuing it's research work into
most efficient methods of road-build
ing, including the character and wear
ing power of materials, resisting quail
tiles of varying subsoils, etc, and
has amassed considerable store of
valuable information all Of which will
be available for the highway engineer
OF tomorrow, whom the Board is seek
ing to have educated in practical and
modern methods.