Atlanta tri-weekly journal. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1920-19??, 1923-02-03
UNCLE SAM TURNS
. EYE ON TRUCKLOADS
To SAVE PAVEMENT
BY frederick j. HASKIN

The time is not so far distant when
motorists on the public highways of
the land will be subject to traffic
regulations fixed by the federal gov
ernment At least there was hint
of such a step being taken in the tes-
timony of Thomas H Macdonald,
chief of the bureau of public roads,
before the appropriations committee
of the house of representatives re-
Gently; and members of the COM
nlittee seemed to concur in the opin-
ion that federal traffic regulations
would be a good thing.
Members of congress seem to feel
that there is ample reason why the
government should begin to take
hand in the regulations of traffic on
highways. The government is pour
ing out money for the construction
of roads throughout the United
States, spending as much for this
purpose as it is on any other pubic
work Snice 1918, more than $685.
600, 900 of government money has
gone into roads, and the money is
being spent at the rate of something
like $4,000, 900 a year. With such
financial stake in roads, the govern
ment is beginning to feel that 1t
should have something to say about
how the roads are used.
1t is with the view of eventually
prescribing uniform traffic regula-
tions for all roads built by federal
aid that the government proposes TO
spend next year something like $751;
600 in preliminary work. A similar
amount for a similar purpose is be-
ing spent this year With this money
the government is surveying ROAD
traffic as it exists today, with a view
of evolving from its studies sclen'
tifc rules for the maximum preser-
walton of roads from the wear and
tear of traffic on them.
Loading Chief Concern
It is the weight of the traffic, the
loading of individual cars and trucks,
IN which the government is inter
ssted primarily, rather than in the
wav the traffic conducts itself on the
road, since it is the weight put upon
tires. which has the chief relatlno-
ship to the life of a road. 1t may be
said that all rules now superlmposed
upon motor drivers as to the loadlng
of trucks are simply the result OF
guesswork and the expression OF
opinion, although the guesses may
be good ones and the opinions Valld'
The government scientists, however
do not work by guess. They are
studying traffic scientifically, ana
their traffic rules, when ready, Will
be based upon a great mass OF oatd
on actual traffic results.
The field taken for study IN the
east comprises the entire state OF
Connecticut. In this state every bit
of traffic passing over every main
highway for an entire year is oelh5
counted and analysed aud part OF
II weighed, At key stations along
the Connecticut roads the lnVestlgd-
TORS are stationed. The state high
wav department has authorized the
investigation, so that the federal
agents have full power 20 stop tie
traffic. All traffic leaving and enter
ing the state as we'll as all loc"l
traffic goes under the searchlght.
The field men stop everything thai
passes, note the size and Wels"t "a
each vehicle, the number OF pas
sengers in each automobile ana Tue
amount and kind Of freight beln5
carried in each truck, lnqulrlnS the
destination of each so as 70 kaoW
the actual mileage. At some U. tt'e
stations are road scales, over which
the traffic is conducted and WelSheu'
When this census is compete the
bureau of public roads Will nave ia
Z it's possession statement VI every
Mound of weight and every mile 'raV-
eIed upon the roads Of Sonneetclu
The bureau then will be in posi-
ton to study the relationship 90
tween volume and weight OIL uafnc
and the breakdown of highways toc
II will have the full data on the de-
terioration of Connecticut roa1s ouf-
ing the traffic count.
Studies Elsewhere
Similar studies are being made or
will be made in other sections 50
that eventually the figures Wli! pee
sent a picture of the entire tra1llc
conditions of The United States. "A
similar survey, but on a less CXSon-
siye scale, is being conductor II
Massachusetts,. In several counties
of Tennessee the government Is cen
Quoting traffic counts. and stat9
wide census is going on IN Nd'F
fornia. 1t is proposed to a1d cold'
nlete studies of the traffic in one OF
more of the agricultural states III
the Mississippi valley before pro
ceeding to the formulation 0f rules,
One immediate result obtained
from the Connecticut survey was Inc
discovery that three out OF every
four commercial truckers were loao,
ing their trucks above thelr fateu
capacity. This overlooking almost
disappeared as soon as the rfelgnt-
ers discovered that the authorltles
were weighing the traffic. Inc over,
loading of trucks has a detrllnehu"l
effect upon roads, as the bureau
sc:entists have discovered in many
observations and tests. w men
truck goes over any kind of obstruc'
tion or irregularitiy in road, II
strikes the roadbed with an impact
witch averages four times the stand
ing weight of the truck, and II the
drop is a considerable one, the equiv
aIent multiplication of its weight
NAV be as many as seven times. n
load carried upon truck within its
legal capacity harms road less
than the same load on small truck
which must be overloaded to carry
1t.
Breaks Widen Fast
The breakup Of roads is very swift
once a failure occurs. On an apso-
I11telv smooth road an accurate
wheel produces no impact at all, but
an irregularity as much as half
inch high sets up a. heavy impact.
Tests on the part Of the bureau have
shown that when a road break oc-
ours it will progress as much as
thirty feet day in heavy traffic.
Public road building with federal
aid has made enormous progress
since the government spent it's first
road money in 1918. In'1917 the fed
eral aid system actually started, and
about four miles of road were built
that year, but no federal aid was
maid until 1918. In that year about
zoe ,,niles nf highway were construct.