New Britain herald., 1930-11-13
CONSTANT ROAD AGITATION
 SHOULD AID CITY

centers." and incidentally asked for an expression of opinion by interest cd citizens.
 Expecting the interested citizen to express an opinion on this subject is like asking him to express an opin- ion about the weather when it IS fair There IS only one type of opln- ion that fits, and everybody dwelling in New Britain has the same opln- ion concerning the matter discussed. They are all heartily in favor Of the improvement Of the highways as suggested,
 The roads suggested are:
 Hillcrest avenue cutoff. The state has promised to construct a So-foot road. and the city at some future time" will add 50 feet providing q boulevard.
 Ellis street extension 10 the Post road. requiring Il miles Of new road. The object is 10 provide a short route 10 the territory between Hartford and Middletown. Much discussion has been aroused and no action except The request that the city engineer prepare maps. In our opinion this project is not as inn po-tant as some of the others.
 The Cat Hole Pass road to Meri- den. Authorization Of the new high way has been procured from the Legislature and the State Highway Commission, but the improvement awaits the money as it accrues to the state under the Pay-As-You-Go policy. Nobody knows how long that will take. The Pay-As-YouGo political policy is to be blamed for the delay
 A direct route 10 Southington
 
 from the shuttle Meadow road, via the path that leads over the noun iain and into the valley that leads directly to Southington. This would also provide a short route 10 Water bury. The idea has much to com- ,,c,5 ii On the mountain the road also leads to the highway passing Sunset Rock park and thence to the plainyille road. part of which lead ing to the park has been slightly i'm proved by the town Of Plainville. IL is doubtful whether this Southins- ton and Waterbury improvement will receive as ready support hy the state as some of the other road sug- cestions made, but there can be no doubt Of it's value it ever consum- mated,
 Pennington avenue gateway 10 Pennington. This is the direct route between New Britain and Farming ton and # is astonishing that the road is allowed 10 remain in It's present condition. In the days when it made TO difference how bad roads were this was the main-trayel-
 1. I--rs z, ,-7 !. n Now Britain. and in those days what is now New Britain was q part of Pennington. The desire to concen- trate travel on few improved roads has practically forced the use Of the more roundabout route 10 Harrington from West Main street.
 Stanley street from lbelle's corner via Batterson park 10 Pennington road. which would provide short cut from the northern part Of the city to points west and north. This in essence IS an extension Of the advantages accruing to an improy- ed Pennington road.
 From the foregoing il can be seen that the state so far has not done exceptionally well by the city, es- paciaIy considering the large amount of gasoline taxes and auto mobile taxes that the state obtains from New Britain,
 But fundamentally there is the slouncss incident 10 the procurr- ment of the necessary funds by the state. The Pay-As-Y You-Go policy ls political catchword which does not in practice provide the outlets dc manded quickly enough 70 suit the public dcsirous of using the out lets. It provides some good main highways. but comparatively so few of them that traffic is concentrated upon them to excess. OIiE Ht'i0 only 10 note the heavy travel on the Plainville road, day and night, 10 realize that the reason is lack Of alternate highways.
 These alternate highways must be built. Conditions at times along some Of the present state highways approach traffic jams. There has been plenty of discussion but not enough action. The discussion re- sarding the Cat Hole Pass road, for instance, is a case in point. For half dozen years this necessary road improvement has been under dis cussion, and we ourselves have con- tributed 10 it. But from Hartford comes no sign of action. The last word that came from the State