The Nezperce herald. (Nezperce, Idaho) 1900-1957, 1923-07-26
THE COST OF POOR ROADS.

THE COST OF POOR ROADS.
Hostility to good roads is in man.
cases due to the lack of data as TO tn
cost of poor roads, and neglect of tn
fact that taxes paid for poor road
are greater than those required Il
build good ones, said Fl. E. Phelps
professor of highway engineering a
the State College of Washington re
Gently.
The way to reduce road taxes is tt
repeal the poor road tax, not the good
road tax. That we pay large taxes foi
the privilege of enjoying poor roads
is demonstrated by results. of recent
research work with especially design
ed instruments. Attached to numer-
Gus automobiles and trucks, they
measured the resistance offered by
various road surfaces to the movement
of vehicles. These tractive resistan-
ces were carefully checked against
measurement of the amount of gaso-
limo required to propel various cars
over the same road surfaces. They
showed that the amount of gasoline
varied directly with the roughness of
the road surface. One gallon of gaso-
line is required, for example, by the
modern automobiles and trucks for
each ton of total weight carried IA
miles on earth roads, 81 miles ON grav
Ell and 81 on concrete. ,,
But, treating the subject from
somewhat different angle, John N,
Edy, until recently highway engineer
of Montana, wants to know whether
it is true that every stretch of good
road really pays regardless of its cost,
and who gets the money! Writing in
the Sunset Magazine for August, Mr.. |
Edy says: 1t has been shown, conclu.
sively that the gasoline consumption |
is less per mile ON good gravel road |
than it is on an earth road, and that |
there is further gasoline saving on
paved roads as compared with gravel
roads. But, says, he, it costs four to
six times moro to pave road than the
expense of providing good gravel
surface. With the same amount of
money we can build four to six times
more gravel than paved mileage. If
gravel saves half cent and pavement
! cent per car-miie over earth roads
Ind if paving is five times more cost
y than gravel, thsn the amount of
Dad investment necessary to pave ono
nile will save one cent, whereas the
anne amount invested in five miles of
.Tavel will save two and half cents.
even with higher maintenance cost it
would save the motorist money if the {
heaper type of road were built in
onger stretches wherever the traffic ]
not too heavy. ii
But, says Edy, the better the road I
urface and the longer the improved
lileage, the more the motorist is out i
the end of the year. The good road 7
ivings are purely constructive, like O
our share in the national wealth. n
hey are there, but you can't cash v
lem in because the better the roads a
e more frequently the old bus is ex- #
cised and the longer the rides and G
Q larger the gasoline consumption s.
The real dividends you get out of di
cd roads depend upon what you do
Zen you get there. pt
Also, Mr.. Edy points out, there is a ce
rther difficulty. While the CON
ictive good-road savings, like saliva ri
IN, are individual, the, cost falls w
'stly on the public. The private N,
Wings accrue day by day unnotieed, de
I the road expenses come in a bunch tn
taxrpaying time. lie
The point of these remarks and the. str
raj of the tale is this: we know sol he
v little about highways, their func.
n, construction and proper financ- MI
that we d better get busy and go
er the facts. ON,
.s-s--s~s-s-s.s-s.s-s~s-s-s- iaA