The Coconino sun., 1922-10-20
BIG BODYBUILDING
 PROGRAM PREPARED

Fifteen to twenty years of building
 good roads lie ahead of the United
 States. Under the program the coun-
 try has adopted there will be built during that time, 1S0,000 miles of i'm proved highways which will constitute the Federal-aid highway system 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 exceed those of any other nation, past or present in the world. The highways 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 2S, inclusive, by state highway engin- eers and officials of the bureau of public roads, United States depart ment of agriculture, to whom has been entrusted the work of planning and supervising the construction of fed eral-aid highways. The plan will be presented to enable the board to pro- ceed authoritatively with it's work of devising aids for schools and colleges to which road-builders of the country are turning for competent highway engineers.
 Officials of the bureau place the ag- gregate cost of the federal-aid pro- gram alone at about $3,00O,00O, ,00O spread over the twenty-year period. They base this estimate on an average cost of $17, ,000 per mile. The aver age cost, in turn, takes into consider ation all classes of improved road ways from the cheapest to the most expensive types. Approximately one third of the proposed system, or 60,- 900 miles of improved highways, al- ready are either built or building.
 The program is a new one. Up to comparatively recently 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 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 nation.
 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- 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 population and products will flow ov- CT the new system.
 New roads will be planned and built-thousands of miles of them where they will fit in most advan- with the entire program The bureau is continuing it's research work into most efficient methods of road-building, including the character and wearing power of materials, re- sisting qualities of varying subsoils, etc., and has amassed a considerable store of valuable information all of which will be available for the high way engineers of tomorrow, whom the board is seeking to have educated in practical and modern methods.