Douglas daily dispatch., 1926-07-06


Good Roads association meeting at
Flagstaff, June 25, he said
/ am going to attempt to give you
some facts and figures that will show
what the increase in traffic will de-
mand in better highways.
The Arizona highway department for
some time has been making a study of
her traffic problems. Traffic census
have been taken at IS points through
out the state. On the first Wednesday
in every month a traffic census is taken
which shows the 12-hour count of cars
that pass that point. Every third month
a 24-hour census is taken at these rs
points. This custom is taken by our
maintenance crews wit hhardly any adj
ditional cost to the department.. The
count is divided into eight items: Ari-
zona cars, Arizona trucks, foreign cars,
foreign trucks, then there are the Ari-
zona transportation lines which are
divided into automobiles and trucks
and foreign transportation lines which
are divided into two classes also.
If our transportation problems are to
be solved they must be solved from
facts and figures which are accurate,
and not only must they be based on
Arizonas traffic census, but they also
must be based on what the records of
the rest of the United States show as
we'll, for after all, the problems of ey-
cry state bearing on the increase in
traffic are practically the same.
Some idea of the increase and de-
crease of the traffic on the various
roads may be gained from the fact that
on U. S. route 80, from Rodeo to Doug
las, Tucson, Phoenix to Yuma, the
traffic has increased 20.4 per cent.
On u. S. route No. 70, from Springer
Vile to Holbrook, there has been de-
crease of 1876 per cent.
On U. S. route No. $50. from Duncan
to Superior Junction, the increase has
been 4O.4 per cent.
On u S. route No. $50, from Tucson
to Nogales, the increase has been 1913
per cent.
! On state route No. sc, which is the
| Apache Trail, there has been an in
crease of 43.4 per cent.
On state route No. 2S, from Prescott
to Jerome, the traffic has decreased
10.6 per cent.
/ On U. S. route No. so, from Lupton to
Holbrook, Flagstaff and Topock, the
increase has been 14.6 per cent.
On U. S. route No 2SO, from Phoenix
to Prescott, the increase has been 92.7
per cent.
These figures are based on the traf-
! fic census taken at the same points un-
der the same conditions in June, 1925,
and June. 1926, and are only an indi-
cation of the traffic at this time of the
iyear.
Instances may be cited showing the
benefit of the traffic census by telling
you of a section of paved road be-
tween Bisbee and Douglas which, due
to defective sub grade, broke up into
large slabs, and an offhand opinion
might have been that it would be
necessary to replace this paving, but
study of the traffic census showed
/ that there was practically no trucking
/ over this road. Most of our highways
that receive heavy. trucking are where
the highways connect a mining district
with an agricultural district, where
! the products of the valley are taken to
! the mining center. This highway con-
meets up two mining districts. We re-
paired this road at very low cost
/ and the road today is standing up un-
der the traffic very well.
Another instance that shows the val
.ue of our traffic census is in the re-
/ pairs of the Tempe bridge across the
!, Salt river last year. While this bridge
! was under repairs it was necessary to
detour the traffic by another paved
route which necessitated travelling two
miles further than the old route. The
average cost of operation of the aver
age car is 10 cents per mile The cost
Ito each motorist that made this two
mile detour over paved road was 20
Ecents additional,
Our traffic census showed at that
j time that there were some 1000. cars
i travelling this road, reflecting a daily
cost to the motorist of over $500. This
meant that the highway department
would have to use all speed in repair
ing this bridge. The ordinary cement
takes 2S days for its final set. If we
waited 90 days for the cement to set
on this project it would reflect a loss
iof $22,400 to the motorist. BY using
Luminite cement, which is a quick
Esetting cement and cement gun to
put this project through, it resulted in
a. saving of thousands of dollars to the
motorists.
Further, our traffic census gives us
an idea of the number of foreign cars
that travel our highways. On the whole
about 33 per cent of our travel is for
eign cars. On one section of the Ma
tional Old Trails road, from Adamana
to Lupton, last month the census show
that there were 19 Arizona cars pass
ed over this section that day, and liz
foreign cars. Other points where traf-
fic census was taken showed that prac-
tically 100 per cent of the cars We're
Arizona cars.
Some of the facts and figures that
will bring home to US the need OF hlgh
| class highways are that the annual
production of passenger cars in the
United States last year was 3,S39,SOz
and 497,452 motor trucks. Certainly
this means more cars per person anc
means that the highway department
has to prepare for them.
{ Then too, the tendency is, with bet
ter highways, to increase the weight OF
the class of traffic that travels ovel
J. IL 1iL,c. IN 4