The Sauk Centre herald. (Sauk Centre, Stearns County, Minn.) 1886-current, 1928-12-06
GRAVEL HIGHWAYS
VERY EXPENSIVE
Travel Cost to MotOrist Over
Pavement is Material;
Upkeep Increasing
BOND ISSUE PRACTICAL
20 Per Cent of MinnesOta'S
Population is Reasonably
Close to Highways

AS long as the Minnesota mo-
torist stays on the pavement, he
gets his moneys worth, according
to Curtis Johnson, Vice President
of the Minnesota Good Roads As
ISOLATION. But the minute he has
to go beyond and on to the grav-
ell, his money shrinks. His car costs
him more to run, because it needs
more gas and oil per mile, and the
inevitable thank-you-marms in the
road hasten its depreciation.
But there is another reason for
the shrinkage of his dollar. The
gravel he rides over costs the State
much more to maintain than pave
ment and thereby robs the motorist
of the new pavement his gas tax
money might otherwise provide.
Very few motorists can confine
their travel entirely to the pave
ment. There are about 1000 miles
of Trunk Highways in the State.
It is estimated that 20 per cent of
Minnesota's total population lives
either in towns on the Trunk High
ways or within mile of the High
ways themselves. Consequently, the
statement frequently made that the
Trunk Highways carry 70 per cent
Of all motor traffic appears con-
sentative.
But of the 1000 miles in the
Trunk Highway system, only 1000
miles are permanently paved.
While those thousand miles of
pavement have been located to
bear the brunt of the traffic, there
are still many hundred miles of
impermanent >surfacing which are
daily subjected to suicide traffic.
No gravel road, no matter how ex-
pensively maintained, can meet the
exacting demands of modern motor
traffic.
But maintenance is attempted.
The maintenance cost of the Trunk
Highways amounts to four and
a half million dollars annually, and
it is costing more every year. Most
of that money must be spent on the
impermanent highways; for pave
ment requires but little attention
or money.
The millions now spent for the
upkeep of temperament highways
is money dropped into a bottomless
pit. Next year even more must be
spent, only to disappear after a
game but hopeless attempt to keep
the highways in shape.
The money is derived from mot
or vehicle license fees and gas
taxes-fees and taxes which are
eheerfuny paid in the hope that
they will be used to buy lasting
highway improvements. They are
we'll administered. Minnesota's
overhead expense in highway ad-
ministration is usually low, reflect
ing a high degree of efficiency in
the Highways Department.
But, no matter how carefully
administered, highway money
which goes into the maintenance Of
impermanent roads cannot go very
far. 1t is up against an impossible
handicap.
Throughout the country highway
experts have discovered sane and
workable solution to the problem.
Bond issues, carefully planned and
financed, place q burden on no
one, at the time Of their issuance
or afterwards, and yet they are
the most effective means of pre-
venting the needless waste of pub
lie monies-funds which otherwise
would soon pass from sight and
usefulness.
The validity of the bond issue
method Of financing highways has
been completely established. 1t
makes possible Immediately needed
improvements without the imposi-
ton Of special assessments or in
creased taxation.
But here in Minnesota an even
greater profit is possible; by the
issuance of highway bonds, fl
nanced on the basis of the present
license fees and gas tax, the pave
ment can be put in and property
values raised without the exact
ment of a single extra penny from
anybody. And the property own,
ers viii gain only a part Of the
profit, for they will be distributed
among the owners and drivers of
every one of Minnesota's 650,000
cars.
The people Of this state have, by
Constitutional amendment, the
right to issue bonds for highways.
That right has not been utilized,
with the consequence that paving
of the important highways has lag
ged. Maintenance of the gravel
roads has absorbed so much of the