The daily Alaskan., 1922-11-07
Planning 18O,OOO Miles of Improved
 State Highways

W dbNlub luuI Ds S'I ANN'' '' ~A | program for good roads construe- ton during the next fifteen to twen- ty years which will make the road 1 transportation facilities of the United States far exceed those of any other nation, in the world, past or present, is the aim of the federal government. The highways of Rome even, whose fame has come down through the centuries, will pale by comparison, officials declare. Under the program, there will be built, during the period, ISO,OOO 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
 Details of this program will be placed before the conference of the highway board, which met here yesterday for a three days confer ence, by state highway engineers and officials of the bureau of public roads of the department of agricul- ture. to whom has been entrusted the work of planning and supervis- ing the construction of the federal aid highway.
 The plan will be presented es- pecially to enable the board to pro- ceed authoriuvely with it's work of devising aids for schools and col leges to which the road-builders of the country are turning for compe- tent highway engineers.
 Officials of the bureau place the aggregate cost of the federal-aid program alone at about $3,OO0,OOO, 900, spread over the period. They basee their estimate on an average cost of $1TOOO per mile The aver age cost, in turn, takes into consir- eration all classes of improved high ways from the cheapest to the most expensive. Approximately one-third of the proposed system, of 6O,OOO miles of improved highways, already are either built or building.
 The program is a new one, Up to comparatively recent years, the bureau declares, road building in the United States has been conducted without special regard to a national system. Highways had been con- structed where needed without con- siderlng whether they would link up in the most effective fashion with the whole network of roads projected to spread over the entire country. Engineers had sought more to meet immediate and lecal demands than the broader requirements of the states and the nation.
 The federal-aid program, officials said, will contemplate the ConstruC- tion of only such roa6s 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 requirements. With marked modif- cations the system adopted in build ing the railways of the country will be borne in mind in the construction of the nations new highways. There will be main lines of highway, cam 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 agri- culture sections, to tap areaas whose population and products will flow over the new system.
 New roads will be built-thou- sands of miles of them-where they will fit in most advantageously with the entire program. The bureau at present is engaged in research work into the most efficient methods of road building, including the charac- tc- and wearing power of materials and resisting qualities of various sub stances and has already amassed a great store of valuable information which will be available to the hign- way engineers of tomorrow whom the board especially is seeking to have educated in practical and mod ern methods.