Spirit of Jefferson. [volume] (Charles Town, Va. [W. Va.]) 1844-1948, 1926-11-24
THE STATE ROAD SYSTEM.

b@NSu Tba0S, Fbafa surfaced or grad
: ed connections linking together vir-
tually all of he 55 county seats are
completed or under construction.
. Two all-year highways extending en-
Ureiy across the State--~one east and
west and the other north and south
have been completed.
This is a brief account Of the stew
afdship Of the State Road Commits
sion, appointed IN 1921 10 expend
the proceeds Of the $4,000, GOO
bond issue IN the construction Of inn
proved roads. During the entire
period. the Commission has kent
steadily in view the provisions OF the
State road law requiring the con-
nection Of county seats. and connee-
tions with important roads Of adj
joining states The linking together
of the principal cities. and the build
ing of Translate highways, have
been accomplished while adhering
strictly 20 the two main requirements
of the statute.
When the State Road Commission
was appointed in the summer of
1921, no two of the larger cities of
West Virginia were connected by a
paved road Only two of the So
county seats had am all-year road
connection, Translate h / G h W avs
were merely igments of the magma
tion.
1t il now possible TO start at
Wheeling, Moundsville. Cameron.
Warrington, Fairmont, Morgantown,
Clarksburg Grafton, Philipni, Ell
'kins, Weston, Buekhannon, West
Union, Harrisville. Parkersburg,
Elizabeth, Spencer, Clendenin, Char
lesion. Huntington, Hamlin, Lewis
burg, White Sulphur Springs, Fay
etteville, Beckley, Hinton. Prince
ton, Bluefeld, or Welch. and visit
all of the other cities and towns in
this list, besides a host Of smaller
ones, without ever leaving West
Virginia paved road.
West Virgnia's rank i'm regard TO
through highways. is shown by the
fact that only 16 other states have
all-year roads running from border
TO border in two directions.
This States completed east and
west highway il State Route No 3,
also known as the Midland Trail. and
recently made part of u. S. High
Highway No. go. On the east, it
connects with the highway system of
the Old Dominion. and on the west
ern end with the roads of both Ken
tuckv and Ohio.
The all-year north and south high
way is combination route. II is
not the shortest possible road across
the State, but its Importance is
shown by he fact that il passes
through / 5 eonnty seats, has hard
surfaced connections with eleven
others, and partly hard surfaced and
partly graded connections with an
additional II.
OF the other trans-state highways.
State Route No. ], the Northwestern
Turnpike, is the most nearly com
pleted, OF its total length of some
215 miles, there is one gap of 20
miles between Grafton and the
Maryland line and another of ten
miles between the Maryland-Grant
County line and New Creek. not yet
had surfaced / tbs hard surfaced
continuously from Parkersburg, via
Clarksburg to a point east of Graf
ton. More money has been expend-
ed on No. ] than on any other
route in the State.
As provided by law, 80 percent of
the $4,000, 100000 has been appor-
toned for construction in the 55
counties, according to their respec-
tive mileages of the old Glass A
routes. This has made possible a
considerable amount Of construction
in each county, with resultant bene-
fits to thousands Of hard working
men and women. who use them in
the pursuit of their daily oceupa-
tons and are enabled by better
roads to obtain more of the comforts
of life, with fewer hardships.
The remaining 20 percent has
been used, as provided by law, for
desirable connections. and to effect
economies of construction. The term,
desirable connections" has been in
terpreted to mean desirable to the
greatest number Economies Of con-
struction are of two principal class
es. IL there Is not quite enough
money in county's apportionment
to complete section of road, it is
an economy to take money from the
90 percent fund for that purpose
and thus avoid the extra cost of do
ing a small piece of work as a sepa-
rate job. If county offers to spend
some Of its own money on a State
route, it is an economy from State
standpoint, to encourage that county
expenditure by matching it in whole
or in part. with some Of the 20 per-
cent fund.
The State system has a total des-
ignated mileage Of $3.50. Roads COM
pleted or under construction on the
State system have a total mileage Of
2,972, of which 2,455 miles are COM
pleted and SIT under construction.
OF the completed work, 1907 miles
have been hard surfaced and '848
miles graded. Work under construc-
tion includes 3f3 miles of grading
204 miles of hard surfacing.
females: total, 1851.
Fairmont State Normal School,
151 males. $50 females: total. sol.
West Liberty State Normal School,
~ Il a