The Ely miner. [volume] (Ely, Minn.) 1895-1986, 1926-05-21
a CENT CAS- TAX
!. IS DIRT ROLL TOLL.
FUEL COST ON GRAVEL HIGH
WAY NINE CENTS EXTRA,
RESEARCH BOARD FINDS.

"The increased consumption of
gasoline on dirt roads costs the mot
orist as much as if he had to pay
a gas tax of "a cents gallon" ac-
cordlng to Prof. S. S. Steinberg of
the University of Maryland, assist
ant director of the Highway Re-
search board. Good gravel roads
impose an additional expenditure
equivalent to nine cent tax. Com
pared with the tax imposed by bad
| roads, the gas tax that is paid for
highway improvement is truly in
significant"
Results of extensive tests made by
the board are contained in a recent
address by Prof. Steinberg, copy
of which has just been received by
C. NJ Babcock, state highway COM
missioner. The board is composed
of representatives of the Federal
| bureau of roads, the state highway
| departments, engineering depart
| ment of several universities, and in
| terested industrial concerns.
The wear of different types of
road surface on all kinds of tires has
also been studied by the bureau.
An average tire, it was found, will
lose one ounce by wear on a 500
mile run on gravel roads and from
| 10 to SO ounces on macadam. de-
pending upon the conditions of the
surface.
The bureau is working on a new
type of cement which, when used in
concrete, develops greater strength
in "a hours than is developed by
ordinary cement in % days. In
stead of closing road two weeks or
more for touring" concrete pave
Hent, sit may now be possible to
build portion of concrete road
on one day and open it to traffic the
next"
| A number of standard makes of
automobiles have been tested for
wind resistance. The bureau finds
that when you drive at 35 miles an
hour, you use, on the average, eight
horse power to Overcome wind resist
ance but that if you reduce your
/ speed to 25 miles an hour, you save
| five horsepower.
Highway engineers are treating
the highway and the vehicle as a
unit" says Prof. Steinberg. "They
are endeavoring to determine the
wear of one upon the other, so that
roads may be designed to fit the
vehicle. Likewise, automobile manu-
facturers are modifying vehicle de-
sign better to fit road conditions"
/ Higher speed traffic, lengthen-
ing of the tourist season, and all
winter use of the trunk highways
are believed to be three principal
causes of 55 per cent increase in
two years in the average cost per
mile of maintenance of the unpaved
portions of Minnesota trunk high
ways system. The rapidly growing
cost of upkeep emphasizes the need
of more permanent road surfacing,
according to C. NJ Babcock, highway
commissioner.
/ There has been gradual increase
in the average speed of vehicles and
j this necessitates more extensive and
Tmore frequent reconditioning opera
tions, such as reshaping and re-
graveling. The speed limit was in
creased from 90 to 35 miles per
hour in 1925. Automobiles are
more and more being used all the
year around, so that a road which
showed the same traffic in August,
1925, as in August, 1923, is never
theless likely to have a much larger
total for the whole year. Cost of
snow fencing and snow removal con
tribute to the higher average cost
in 1925.
Comparisons made two years ago