The Bennington evening banner. (Bennington, Vt.) 19??-1961, 1922-07-12
VERMONT JOYS AND SORROWS

The recent gathering OF the YER
mont Press Association was an auto s
mobile excursion and the members
sho attended have written a good
leal about roads and various opin'
ons have been put forward on tho
road question. J
One of the discussions has been as
20 which section has the best and
f.hich the worst roads. The Evening
Banner party on the press trip coy
,red 705 miles and found the best
md the worst stretches Of road mi
Windsor county The best was thea
rayel road from Cheshire bridge To
lscgtpeyyille, in, the towns Of Spring..
lelt- and Wethersfeld and- the worst
n tie town OF Plymouth betweels
Vest Br,dgewater apd Plymouth
Union. j, '.,r
This trip from West Bridgewatef
0 Plymouth Union was made necesP
AIRY by repairs on the main road
rom Sherburne to Woodstock,
Probably in dry weather this would
rot be a bad road but during a wet
pell, with heavy traffic, We doubt II
nything much worse can be found in
re state.
Probably the most dreadful short
letour in Vermont during the past
TX weeks has been the ore around
he new bridge being built on the
main road near the town line between
'ridgewater and Sherburne IT
would seem as though short detous
Ike this might be kept in better con.
lition, especially on such wonder7
u scenic route as that mp through
he Shashprne valley than yIch
here is a no more attractive stretch
# highway in Vermont
The road from Cheshire bridge to-
tscutneyvile is built OF river gravel
t is promptly dragged by competent
afro men after each rain and, in the
pinlon Of the writer. there is no
ement or tarvia road in the state that
an compare with it,
Some of the newspaper men have
'ated their belief that the roads on
cle east side Of the state are better
han those on tho west side. This
nay be- trne if all the roads are in.
luded but applied to the two main
runk ines, the west side road from
'ownal to Highgate, has been better
his year than tie east side road
rom Vernon to Derby Line.
On the west side trunk line there
now a detour between New Haven
nd Vergennes bad enough to iustif
he instant removal Of a state high
ay commissioner who permits an
outrage Of the kind in his depart
nent, but it may nave been put over
n Inn while he was away on his va
alton and we would not openly con.
o'e assassination un.ess he permits
to continue without attention.
| Perhaps the worst section Of thu
sast side main road, as irregular and
IIlasqng, thing is between the sou 5.
me of We Is River village and st
ohnsbury. On ths 2l-mile stretch
'fere sfias . en- Some Improvement n,
! rrrFft years but the nitnraf~rand,
ions are hard to overcome, a. they
: fetdn New Haven and other part5} OF
Addis6n county aa.
TIE Banner will give the feather
medal for the worst roads in the
tate to st. Adams. About the only
dyantage st. Adams people have is
nat motor car driver can 70 any
where in town without shifting goal
Just keep in low. Rutland and Ben
iington have some back streets. al
aost as had as those OF st. Alban.
ut not quite.
The premier town in tie state fol-
Dads is the town of Derby, the home
" Hon. Stoddard B. Bates. former
tate highway commissioner. These
, Dads were mostly built from ten t,
. years ago when Mr.. Bates wa,
ne highway commissioner of e.,
own OF Derby, His work in Derb,
made him reputation in Or can,
county and he was made county high
, way supervisor, In charge of coun
+ y roads he d d so wei that Governor
jates appointed him state commits
Toner and he continued in thai of,ic,
or six years. The proof of high
ay commissioner is the quality an,
asting quality of the roads he build,
rovided the cost is not h CHER tina,
should be. On tie record of hi
: YORK and the results obtained by an,
: Or the state Of Vermont, the Banne
elleves that the displacement O
Commissioner Bates by Governo
iartness was unwse.
The editor of The Banner is Otter
, lsked by parties desiring to talk,
, TIPS or to tour Vermont as to wha