The Eureka sentinel. [volume] (Eureka, Nev.) 1902-current, 1922-02-18
" A PRESS
THE HIGH COST
OF ROADS

Tonopah Times: Esmeralda Coun-
ty Is to be congratulated on display
ing a new quality in treating with the
Nevada Highway Commission respect
ing appropriations for desert road
construction. The people of Gold
field have rejected with thanks the
benevolent offer of the Highway Com
mission to construct highways
through a sparsely settled region at a
cost that would not be justified any
where except in the most populous
centers. The proposal to infiict %
miles of narrow gauge road at an APP
proximate cost of $4,000 is prepos-
ferrous and 1t is time that either the
Highway Commission of this State or
the Federal board should be Jared
loose from the idea that their duty is
merely one to recommend and carry
through an outlay out of proportion
to the value of the construction to
the communities benefited. This talk
of road building has become a fad
and, like most fads, 1t is carried to a
ridiculous excess. other counties
have fallen in line by accepting the
figures of estimated costs that will
IlOTlbdHC tnt nllnCo anu hODACo AOi
the next 20 years without any guar
antee that these roads will survive
the bond issue. 1t is time to call a
halt in this system of submitting to
the plans of engineers. some of whom
have w seen the desert country
and know nothing about the supply
of available material for road build
ing. They fail to take into account
the absence of clays, the abundance
of gravel and the minimum rainfall
which initiates against substantial
road construction as it is understood
back In Washington where most of
the plans are fathered.
1t may be said without the slight
est fear of contradiction that not a
single demonstration of road building
under State auspices in Nye County
has stood up under the travel as well
as the natural desert roads that have
been used for the last 40 years with
out mourning n dollars expense.
The State road built in the vicinity
of Tonopah has jimmyed about
100000 from the treasury. The
best one of three projects is the Gold
field cutoff traversing a distance of a
trifie more than six miles, which cost
the State about 800 per ent more
than it would have cost had it been
built by private enterprise.
II any figures on the cost of con-
~struction are required to guide the
State and Federal engineers they are
invited to study the cost sheet of
bridging the three miles of tortuous
sand in the vicinity of Klondyke. This
was an expensive undertaking but the
improvement was contaminated at a
fraction of what 1t cost the State to
build the Goldfield cutoff over a firm
foundation and easilydrained terrain.
The, State road from Tonopah to Nc
Kinney's tanks is a burlesque, entail
ing the disbursement of $1,000 in
round figures. 1t Is needless to refer
to the remodeling of the Tonopah
and Las Vegas grade which is the
outstanding monument of incompe-
tence, wastefulness and blithing ignor-
ance. Nye County has not acted on
the invitation of the State Highway
Commission to come into the orgy of
road building, and when the Com
missioners take up the subject 1t is
hoped they will tie the Highway Com
missioners down with an iron-clad
contract before becoming parties to
the improvement of the Midland trail
opening the eastern end of the
try. The Commissioners should see
that natural roads are not destroyed
end the money of taxpayers squan-
dered for the mere qualification of
securing a beggar's hand-out from
the Federal appropriation.