The Hartford herald. [volume] (Hartford, Ky.) 1875-1926, 1922-10-25
BIG FEDERAL ROAD
BUILDING PROGRAM AHEAD
10000 Miles OF improved High
ways to Be Constructed As
Part of National System.

Fifteen to twenty years of build
ing good roads lie ahead of the Unit
ed States. Under the program which
the country has adopted there will
be built, during that time, 1S0, 1000
miles of improved highways which
will constitute the Federal-aid high
way system and an equal or greater
milage of State and local roads.
When the great job is done, the
transportation facilities of the coun-
try 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 compari-
son.
Details of this vast road-building
program are 20 be placed before the
Highway Education Board at its
conference in Washington October
26 to IS. inclusive, by State High
way Engineers and officials of the
Bureau OF Public Roads, United
States Department of Agriculture,
to Whom has been entrusted the
work Of planning and supervising
the construction of Federai-aid
highways. The plan will be present
ed to enable the Board to proceed
authoritatively with its work, OF d.
vising aids for schools ana collie
to which road-builders of the ,oua-
try are turning for competent high
way engineers.
officials of the bureau place the
aggregate cost Of the Federal-aid
program alone at about S3,000,000,-
600, spread over the twenty-year
period. They base this estimate on
an average cost OF $4,000 per mile.
The average cost, in turn, takes into
consideration all classes of improved
roadways from the cheapest to the
most expensive types. Approximate
ly one-third of the proposed system,
or $4,000 miles of improved high
ways, already are either built or
building. The program is Il new
one. Up to comparatively recent
years, road-building in the United
States had been conducted without
special regard to Il national system.
Highways had been constructed
where needed without considering
whether they would link up IN the
most effective manner with the
whole networl; of roads to be spread
over the Nation. Engineers had
sought more to meet immediate and
local demands than the broader re-
quircments OF the States and nation.
The present Federal-a;d road
building program, officials OF the bu-
reau state, will contemplate the
construction 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 inn
portant local requirements. With
marked notifications, 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 communication be-
tween eenters and thousands of
miles of feeder roads, reaching back
into the more sparsely settled re-
gions and into the rich agricultural
sections. to tap areas whose popula
tion and products will flow over the
new system.
New roads will be planned and
of miles OF them
where they will fit in most advan-
tageously with the entire program. !
The bureau is continuing its re-
work into most efficient
of road-building, including
the character and wearing power of
resisting qualities of
varying subsoils, etc, and has
amassed a considerable store of
valuable information all of which |
will be available for the highway
engineer of tomorrow, whom the
Board is seeking 10 have educated in
practical and modern methods. (