The Waterbury Democrat., 1942-11-24
Curtailment In Snow
 Removal Work Likely
Highway Reduction Forced By Labor Shortage, Con-
 servatiOn of Equipment and Income Decrease

I gasoline tax may well be oonsidered
 as road user payments also.
 'The automatic traffic recoruing
 devices of this department have
 revealed an overall reduction in
 motor car traffic of between 40
 and 30 per cent when compared with
 last year. Reduction in gasoline
 usage has not been so sharp, but
 with tightening control of rationing
 1t is not unreasonable to anticipate
 that in the near future the gasoline
 reductions may parallel somewhat
 closely the reduction in vehicle
 count. Registration of cars and li-
 censes for drivers are unknown
 quantities with only one sure fact
 they will show @ decrease. Each of
 these reductions means less income
 to the Highway Department.
 "A reasonably safe guess seems to
 be that we must so use our equip ment that it will last for two or more years while performing a fair ly good job of maintenance on all of our roads and rather high standard of maintenance on our urgently needed mainline routes.
 Important war activities in many centers of this state, with in- ter-city and interstate truck traf- fic, must be considered in the se- lection of the more important routes. Such selection must per- init the continuance without inter ruption of this obviously impor- tant war transportation work. In addition, careful thought must be given to the large number of auto mobile commuters travelling to and from Connecticut's was industries.
 When we have determined the needs of the different routes, we shall assign available equipment, perhaps holding back some of it with next years needs in view. In any event. the trucks will undertake their assigned tasks in a manner commensurate with the job the road must perform. On the vital roads this will mean blowing in much the same fashion as we do now. It may mean the elimination of the last little polishing operations that have been performed up to now, but the roads will be well kept. For the less important roads we may not blow down to bare pave ment After all, this is a luxury on lightly travelled roads, and we know our less important roads are going to be lightly travelled.
 For those persons residing on or ,eiy sr1,k .artn1nl rnaIe if would be we'll to recall that a cur tailed program of snow removal of this sort is superior to the treat ment many of the towns are able to provide for their more remote roads. even in normal times. While im- portant town roads are plowed promptly in most instances, some others must be left for traffic to break its own way through.
 There will be no road in the state highway system left unopened, but there my be some delay In open ing up the less important road, due to lack of personnel. There may be snow on roads where the urg- ency of traffic $ not compelling, but the road will be usable and safe for every vehicle that is op- erated with proper regard for weather conditions and within the wartime speed limit of 35 miles per hour This speed limit coupled with a smaller number of vehicles | or the state highways should re- duce accident hazard quite mate rially. Tn addition, drivers who take the precaution of using chains whenever there is question about the presence of snow or ice on the roads to be travelled, will be con- not only to their own safety but to that of their fellow travellers.
 Tn connection with the opera ton of cars at conservative speeds and with chains, the truck indus try, through the Motor Truck Asso- ciation of Connecticut, has already indicated its intention of following these tactics. In former years some trouble has been experienced with trailer trucks jack-knifing on slopes where slippery conditions have de- veloped. In almost every instance this was due to lack of chains. This difficulty the trucking industry proposes to eliminate. Equal coop eration in the use of chains by passenger car operators should as- sure us trouble-free travel on our roads all winter despite the curtail- ment of snow blowing.
 "One more aspect - perhaps the most important is the fact that we are making these reductions in service not alone to save materials, money and labor but to add just a little more weight to the job of win- ming the war;