Evening star., 1937-06-06
Bv Robert d. Potter.

n years ago our highways
wv were branded as disgrace
to civilization. it is not
difficult to understand why We have
had to build up our tremendous
TRANSPORTATION network without taking
the time to record what we have done
or to plan the things we have under
taken. The development of the auto
mobile has been so amazingly rapid
that We have had almost no time to
think about the future.
And so today we do not know def
nitely how many miles OF roads there
Rre, what types of surfaces and struc-
lures they comprise, how much they
cost, who pays for them, how long
they may be expected to last, or
how they should be extended and
improved to provide transportation
service which will be at once the
cheapest and the most adequate for
our present and future traffic require
ments.
Today, however, the necessity for
taking account of our highway in
vestment and for planning our course
for the future has led to the under
taking of surveys in 40 States to
develop the information which will
enable us to build roads wisely.
Highway planning surveys consist
OF a number Of interrelated studies
from which fund of information will
be obtained to make possible road
system based on necessity and
economy.
The first thing to know Is the
amount of physical property that
exists in the system. There are more
than 100000 miles of rural roads in
the United States, but no one can say
how many more because, until the road
inventory studies were started, there
had never been an accurate measure
ment of total mileages.
~ they own considerably less than
they thought. because many roads
were built without regard to their
need. and hence have been abandoned.
In those early days of highway
pioneering We were all too ANXIOUS to
build roads for local pride instead of
transportation. We belonged to road
booster" clubs. and were pleased to
build roads that went nowhere.
Some road abandonments have re-
suited from obsolescence caused by the
new requirements Of high-speed traffic,
and others may be attributed to the
shifting of industries and populations,
or to the opening OF alternative routes
which have attracted the motorist
away from the older roads. Whatever
the reasons may be for road abandon
ments, 1t is safe to say that had our
early highways been planned even
with limited indications there were
OF future traff1c, we might have
salvaged a great deal more of what
we have lost.
The surveying parties in the road
inventory study can measure distances
accurately by the use Of odometers,
which record to the tenth of a mile.
AS the surveyors drive along, they
make notes of the type of surface
whether it is dirt, gravel, asphalt,
cement concrete, and so on: and Of
the condition OF the road-Whether it
is good, fair, or poor. Highway proper
ties are Observation-Disclosures, culverts,
railroad grade crossings, drainage
structures, underpasses, intersections
and road widths.
To this information there is added
An inventory of all the structures
served by or visible from the road
churches, meeting houses, schools.
public parks, fair grounds. tourist
camps, resorts, factories, mills. mines,
stores and railroad stations. The re-
suit of this reconnaissance will be the
production of the first complete trans
portation maps Of the country ever
made.
AS every driver realizes, one OF the
foremost dangers on the highway is
the lack of adequate sight distance
at curves and grades, making an
attempt to pass at those points de-
cidedly hazardous, as well as creating
traffic congestion.
AS first step in the provision OF
safe sight distances on primary high
ways, special parties are noting and
measuring these danger spots in Or
der to plan a program OF removing
such obstacles to highway safety.
Horizontal or vertical curvature is
considered unsafe when sight distance
is less than 1000 feet. This Is the
minimum distance in which a car
travelling so miles an hour can nor
mally pass another, moving at 40
miles an hour, and avoid colliding
with vehicle approaching at so
miles an hour in the opposite direc-
ton.
TWO cars are used by the surveying
party to measure and record sight
distances up to 1000 feet. The two
travel 1000 feet apart, and when
some obstacle, such as the crown of
hill or the bend of a curve, inter-
feres with this minimum sight dis
tance, the driver of the first car
proceeds until he reaches a point
where he estimates he is as far be-
yond the obstacle as the second car
will be before reaching it at the
to each other.
Here the first car stops, and the
second proceeds until its driver can
see the top or rear of the first car.
A horizontal bar attached to the radia-
tor cap Of the second car is placed
ut the level Of the drivers eye, and he
sights the painted top OF the first
car along this horizon
At this point he records his odom-
eter reading to the one-hundredth
Of mile, and proceeds until he reaches
the first car, again taking the read
Ing on the odometer The difference
between the two readings Is the mini
mum sight distance for the curve or
hill in question.
"A MOTHER hazard known to all
drivers is the sharp curve where
the centrifugal force of vehicle Is
offar fha consa of r,,N~1ru ~ %hA