Imperial Valley press., 1930-06-21
REGULATION OF
TRAFFIC NEEDED
SAYS AUTO CHIEF

are stressed in the first public
| statement issued by \. Van DerZee
since his recent appointment as
general sales manager of Dodge
Brothers rs major factors contrib
uting TO an era of stabilized pros
perity for the automobile industry.
During the past 20 years a ire
mendous driving plant consisting of
three quarters Of a million miles of
surfaced roads and streets has been
built up in this country" said van
DerZee. "Now the nation and the
automobile industry are confronted
with the task of utilizing this huge
plant efficiently. Traffic congestion
in the large cities must be reliev-
ed by the development of alternate
routes and the widening of main ar
teries. Secondary or farm TO mar
ket' roads must be provided in the
rural districts.
"The first important move along
these lines is being made this sum
mer. Detroit, for instance, has
marked and chavted system of
alternate automobile routes over
/ which motorists can make as good
or better time during the rush
hours than on the congested main
arteries. The Michigan highway de-
partment, ON the other hand, is
this summer making an intensive
study of the use of dirt roads in
100 sample townships in order to
gain accurate knowledge of the ne.
cessity for more and better roads
in the rural sections. The import
ance to the automobile industry of
these undertakings cannot be over
estimated The utility of the motor
car in the future will be gauged
largely by the capacity of the
streets and highways to absorb the
steadily increasing number of ears
that will be required to meet the
demands OF a wealthy nation.
Preliminary tabulations of this
years census bear out the conten-
tion of leading authorities that the
population of the country is stead.
lily concentrating i'll the cities. The
necessity for enlarging urban travel
facilities is obvious. It is only Il
matter of time before peak traffic
during rush hours in every large
city will be directed over two or
more routes instead OF being con
fined 70 only one main artery that
IS jammed from curb to curb while
hundreds of miles of good pavement
is standing virtually idle. Street
widening, grade separations. belt
line highways and better parking
faihties will furnish an added Sin
eentive TO the city dweller, whose
purchasing power is the greatest, to
own and operate a motor ear.
Secondary Roads Needed
"Of equal Importance to the au-
tomobile industry and the industrial
and agricultural progress of the
country is the development of see
ondary or farm to market roads in
the rural districts. The farmers
who live on these roads will be en-
abled to use their ears and trucks
much more extensively during prac.
ticaily all seasons of the year, and
many other much needed travel ad-
vantages in the rural sections will
be brought out.
''For example, the consolidated
school movement, requiring the OPP
Grafton Of school buses over large
areas, will be greatly benefited by
the Improvement of country roads.
Heavy trsffic on the trunk lines,
especially over week-ends and holi-
days, will be greatly relieved and
made safer. Those who wish to
take leisurely drives and observe
the beauties of the landscape will
have good roads through pictur-
esquc country upon which they may
drive at any rate of speed they
choose without endangeriHg or be-
ing endangered by fast trunk line
traffic.
"These tendencies directly ehal-
lenee the attention of the progress
sive automobile dealer as well as
the manufactures. The dealer must
study not only the accepted market
indications based on familiar con
omic standards but all 0ther condi-
tions in his territory, and in par.
ticular he must sense the new sig
nificancc of local highway develop
ments such as have been outlined
in the foregoing. Intelligent analy.
sis and hard work, he will find, are
still the most satisfactory answer
to good business"