Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1926-08-15

will come to mind upon careful con
slderation of the question?
| obvious it is that in the future some
| provision will have to be made for the
f1eeter portion of the traffic stream
| SpeedWays connecting one large city
with another, built to allow perfect
safety at the higher speeds and &C.
commodating definite types of vehicles
seem to be a logical solution to a
problem which is growing more and
more serious with the increa sing num-
Der of automobiles of every sort and
description being turned out by Ameri-
can manufacturers.
Special Tests Possible.
| 1t is easy to ina gine--and it is not
such a flight of fancy as one might
expect at first blush--a scene on a
typical speedway between any two
| important metropolises of the country.
! For instance:
A roadway, broader than the a.v-
erage now in use. glass smooth and
| built of materials designed to reduce
skidding to an absolute minimum.
would stretch from a point at the
outskirts of one city to the suburbs
| of another, say 100 miles away.
Speed limits would be dictated by
conditions only, and under ordinary
circumstances a high-powered car or
bus would be able to bowl along at
80 miles an hour. or more, without
delay for miles and miles, perhaps
trailing an even sWifter carrier or
passing one with several warning
blasts on a specially made horn. to
be used exclusively on the Speedways.
Undoubtedly, the authorities in the
various cities would find it advisable
to institute special tests for those
/ RI -hn S.io sod into
of using the speedways, and at the
same time their cars would be in
spected by expert mechanics in order
to ascertain their fitness for the high
speeds which they would have to
travel to keep up the pace.
Muffier cut-Outs. perhaps, would
again come into favor on passenger
cars making frequent use of the
faster roads. but it is doubtful wheth.
er the busses would find it expedient
to use them, inasmuch as the greatly
augmented rumble would be an annoy
ance to many travellers.
Widespread use of speedways. it
seems assured. would have some eff
feet upon motor car design and con-
Struction. Speed would be empha-
sized to a greater extent and auto.
mobiles equipped with four forward
speeds might again gain very wide
spread popular usage. Greater atten-
ton would be paid to the problem of
eliminating wind resistance in paSsen-
ger cars and standard equipment tires
might be somewhat altered to meet
the changed conditions, whereby the
ordinary car would be sent catapult.
ing over the SpeedWays at sustained
rates now made only sporadically in
the course of a days driving.
Should speedway plan be adopted
in the United States important
changes in many designs may be
looked for in not negligible proper
ton of ears. The aim of builders.
a. now. would be speed, power, sturdy
construction. riding ease. In the mat.
ter of speed. however. the manufac-
turers would Guido themselves.
The speedway proposition, as out
lined in the consular report from
Germany, is feasible and brings out
a number of points well worth de-
tailed study. No country more than
this one needs to avail itself Of every
available instrument which will speed
up all transportation.
,CoDyrightl