THE DEVELOPMENT OF HIGHWAY SYSTEMS
Transportation Problem. Public
highways, like many other familiar things, are utilized
constantly with little thought of how indispensable
they are to the conduct of the business of a nation
or of the intimate relation they bear to the everyday
life of any community. The degree to which a
nation or a community perfects its transportation
facilities is an index of its industrial progress and
public highways constitute an important element in
the national transportation system. It is to
be expected that the average citizen will think of
the public highway only when it affects his own activities
and that he will concern himself but little with the
broad problem of highway improvement unless it be
brought forcibly to his attention through taxation
or by publicity connected with the advancement of
specific projects.
National in Scope. The
improvement and extension of the highway system is
of national importance just as is development and extension
of railways, and concerted action throughout a nation
is a prerequisite to an adequate policy in regard
to either. It is inconceivable that any community
in a nation can prosper greatly without some benefit
accruing to many other parts of the country.
Increased consumption, which always accompanies material
prosperity, means increased production somewhere,
and people purchase from many varied sources to supply
the things that they want. Good transportation
facilities contribute greatly to community prosperity
and indirectly to national prosperity, and the benefits
of highly improved public highways are therefore national
in scope. This fact has been recognized in Europe,
notably in England, France and Belgium, where the
public highways are administered largely as national
utilities.
Until recent years, highway improvement
in the United States has been subordinated to other
more pressing public improvements, but during the
World War the inadequacy of the transportation system
of the United States became apparent. While such
an unprecedented load upon transportation facilities
may not recur for many years, it has become apparent
that more rapid progress in highway improvement is
necessary and in the United States the subject is
now likely to receive attention commensurate with
its importance.
Development of Traffic. The
character and extent of the highway improvement needed
in any locality is dependent entirely on the demands
of traffic. In sparsely settled areas, particularly
those that are semi-arid or arid, the amount of traffic
on local roads is likely to be small and the unimproved
trails or natural roads adequate. But as an area
develops either on account of agricultural progress
or the establishment of industrial enterprises, the
use of the public highways both for business and for
pleasure increases and the old trails are gradually
improved to meet, at least to some degree, the new
demands of traffic. In sparsely settled areas,
it is possible for the public to accommodate its use
of the highways to the physical condition thereof,
and business is more or less regulated according to
the condition of the roads. This is not always
pleasant or economical but is the only possible arrangement.
In populous districts, with diversified activities,
it becomes imperative to have year-round usable roads
in order to transact with reasonable dispatch the regular
business of the industries. Anything less will
handicap normal community progress.
The advent of the motor driven vehicle
in the United States has resulted in a greatly increased
use of the public highways of agricultural areas,
even of those that are sparsely populated, because
of the convenience of the motor vehicle both for passenger
and for freight service. Probably in excess of
90 per cent of the tonnage passing over the rural
highways in the United States is carried by motor
vehicles. This class of traffic has really just
developed and no one can predict what it will be in
ten years, yet it has already introduced into the
highway problem an element that has revolutionized
methods of construction and maintenance.
A different set of traffic conditions
exists in those parts of the United States where large
areas are devoted primarily to industrial pursuits,
the agricultural development being of secondary importance.
Public highways connecting the industrial centers are
indispensable adjuncts to the business facilities
in such communities and are ordinarily subjected to
a very large volume and tonnage of traffic consisting
principally of motor vehicles. The roads first
selected for improvement will not be those serving
the agricultural interests of the district, but rather
those serving the industrial centers. Inter-city
roads of great durability and relatively high cost
are necessary for such traffic conditions.
Not infrequently the transportation
needs will require a system of both inter-city and
rural highways in the same community. There are
few areas in the United States where there is no agricultural
development. It is apparent therefore that the
nature of the highway systems and the administrative
organization under which they are built and maintained
will differ in various states or areas according to
the nature of development of that area agriculturally
and industrially. In planning improvements of
highway systems, it is recognized that one or more
of several groups of traffic may be encountered and
that the extent and nature of the improvement must
be such as will meet the requirements of all classes
of traffic, the most important being first provided
for, and that of lesser importance as rapidly as finances
permit.
KINDS OF TRAFFIC ON PUBLIC HIGHWAYS
Local or Farm to Market Traffic. In
strictly agricultural communities the principal use
of the highways will pertain to agricultural activities
and most of it will be between the farm and the most
convenient market center. In the ordinary state,
the number of rural families will not average more
than six to eight per square mile, but in some districts
it may reach twenty families per square mile.
The travel from the district around a market center
will originate in this rather sparsely populated area
and converge onto a few main roads leading to market.
The outlying or feeder roads will be used by only
a few families, but the density of traffic will increase
nearer the market centers and consequently the roads
nearer town will be much more heavily traveled than
the outlying ones. It is apparent therefore that
considerable difference may exist in the kind of construction
adequate for the various sections of road where farm
traffic is the principal consideration. This traffic
is made up of horse drawn wagons, transporting farm
products and of horse drawn and motor passenger vehicles,
the motor traffic comprising 80 per cent or more of
the volume of traffic and a greater per cent of the
tonnage. Motor trucks are now employed to some
extent for marketing farm products and, where surfaced
highways have been provided, this class of traffic
is superseding horse drawn traffic.
Farm to Farm Traffic. In
the ordinary prosecution of farming operations, a
considerable amount of neighborhood travel is inevitable.
Farmers help each other with certain kinds of work,
exchange commodities such as seed, machinery and farm
animals and visit back and forth both for business
and pleasure. To accommodate this traffic, it
is desirable to provide good neighborhood roads.
Traffic of this sort follows no particular route and
can to some extent accommodate itself to the condition
of the highways without entailing financial loss,
although some discomfort and some inconvenience may
result from inadequate highway facilities. This
traffic will be partly motor and partly horse drawn,
but the proportion of motor driven is large.
Inter-city Traffic. In
strictly agricultural districts there is a large amount
of travel between towns, both for business and for
pleasure. The pleasure travel is mostly in motor
vehicles and a considerable part of the business traffic
is the same, although horse drawn vehicles are employed
to some extent.
In industrial districts there is a
large volume of this class of traffic consisting of
motor passenger vehicles used for business and for
pleasure and of motor freight vehicles used for general
business purposes. In addition, there is certain
to be a large amount of motor truck freight traffic
incident to the particular industrial pursuits of
the cities. Where adequate public highways connect
industrial centers, there is invariably a very large
amount of inter-city traffic, due in part to the needs
of industry and in part to concentration of population
in industrial centers.
Inter-County and Inter-State Traffic. Automobile
touring is a popular means of relaxation, especially
on the part of those who live in the cities, although
it is by no means confined to them. Traffic of
this kind follows the routes where roads are best and
passes entirely across a county, attracted by some
public gathering. Often it is inter-state in
character, made up of tourists who are traveling to
distant pleasure resorts. Such traffic at present
constitutes a relatively small part of the travel
on public highways, except on certain favorable routes,
but as the wealth of the country increases and good
touring roads are numerous, long distance travel will
increase and will eventually necessitate the construction
of a number of well maintained national highways,
located with reference to the convenience of the automobile
tourist.
PUBLIC HIGHWAYS AND COMMUNITY LIFE
It is well to recognize the intimate
relation public highways bear to the economic progress
of a nation. Normal development of all of the
diverse activities of a people depends very largely
upon the highway policy that is adopted and whether
the actual construction of serviceable roads keeps
pace with transportation needs.
Rural Education. It has
become increasingly apparent during the World War
that the demand upon North America for food stuffs
is to become more and more insistent as the years
pass. Already the consumption in the United States
has approached quite closely to the average production
and yet the population is constantly increasing.
The time is not far distant when greater production
will be required of the agricultural area in North
America in order to meet the home demand for foodstuffs,
and many thousands of tons will be needed for export.
This need can only be met by agricultural methods that
will increase greatly the present yield of the soil.
The adoption of better agricultural methods must of
necessity be preceded by the technical training of
the school children who will be the farmers of the
next generation, which can best be accomplished in
graded schools with well equipped laboratories and
with suitably trained teachers. The problem of
providing such schools in rural communities has, in
some instances, been solved by consolidating a number
of rural school districts and constructing a well
equipped building to accommodate the students from
an area several miles square. An educational system
of this sort can reach its highest usefulness only
when adequate public highways facilitate attendance
of pupils. The whole trend of rural educational
progress is toward a system which is predicated upon
a comprehensive highway policy in the district.
Rural Social Life. Closely
allied to the rural educational problem is the rural
social problem. Motor cars and good roads do a
great deal to eliminate the isolation and lack of
social opportunity that has characterized rural life
in the United States. A high order of citizenship
in rural communities is essential to the solution of
many problems of rural economics, and such citizens
will not live away from the social opportunities of
modern life. The rural school house and the rural
church may become social centers and local plays, moving
picture shows and lectures and entertainments of other
kinds made available to those who live in the country.
Their enjoyment of these social opportunities will
be much more general if the public highways are at
all times in a condition to be traveled in comfort.
Good homes and good schools on good roads are prerequisites
to the solution of many rural problems.
If there is opportunity for those
who live in the cities to get some adequate idea of
rural life and the conditions under which farming
operations are carried on it will correct many misunderstandings
of the broad problems of food production and distribution.
Reference has frequently been made to the seeming
desire on the part of city people to get into the
country, and, by facilitating the realization of this
desire, a great social service is rendered.
Good Roads and Commerce. That
good highways are almost as necessary as are railroads
to the commercial development of a nation is recognized
but, unlike the railroads, the highways are not operated
for direct profit and the responsibility of securing
consideration of the demand for improvements is not
centralized. Therefore, sentiment for road improvement
has been of slow growth, and important projects are
often delayed until long after the need for them was
manifest. Movements to secure financial support
for highway improvement must go through the slow process
of legislative enactment, encountering all of the
uncertainties of political action, and the resulting
financial plan is likely to be inadequate and often
inequitable.
The whole commercial structure of
a nation rests upon transportation, and the highways
are a part of the transportation system. The highway
problem can never receive adequate consideration until
public highways are recognized as an indispensable
element in the business equipment of a nation.
During the World War all transportation
facilities were taxed to the limit, and motor trucks
were utilized for long distance freight haulage to
an extent not previously considered practicable.
As a result, the interest in the motor truck as an
addition to the transportation equipment of the nation,
has been greatly stimulated. Many haulage companies
have entered the freight transportation field, delivering
commodities by truck to distances of a hundred miles
or more.
The part the motor truck will play
in the future can only be estimated, but it seems
clear that the most promising field is for shipments
destined to or originating in a city of some size and
a warehouse or store not on a railroad spur, and especially
when the shipments are less than car load lots.
The delays and expense incident to handling small
shipments of freight through the terminals of a large
city and carting from the unloading station to the
warehouse or other destination constitute a considerable
item in the cost of transportation.
Mr. Charles Whiting Baker, Consulting
Editor of Engineering News-Record, states:
“It costs today as much to haul
a ton of farm produce ten miles to a railway
station as it does to haul it a thousand miles over
a heavy-traffic trunk-line railway. It often
costs more today to transport a ton of merchandise
from its arrival in a long train in the freight
yard on the outskirts of a great city to its deposit
in the warehouse of a merchant four or five miles away
than it has cost to haul it over a thousand miles
of railway line.”
Nevertheless it seems probable that
new methods of operating the motor truck transport,
and possibly new types of trucks or trucks and trailers
will be developed so that freight traffic over many
roads will be of considerable tonnage and an established
part of the transportation system of the nation.
In the article above referred to are given the following
data relative to the cost of hauling on improved roads
by motor truck and these cost estimates are based on
the best information available at this time. They
should be considered as approximate only, but serve
to indicate the limitations of the truck as a competitor
of the steam railway.