American Rural Highways

ment of Hig

gree 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 pub

er 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 g

e 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 ap

ral 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

e 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 t

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 f

d 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 mo

affic on Pu

ate 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 w

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

, both for business and for pleasure. The pleasure travel is mostly in motor vehicles and a considerab

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 highway

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, b

ways and Co

mal development of all of the diverse activities of a people depends very largely upon the highway policy th

, 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 school

s 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

arried on it will correct many misunderstandings of the broad problems of food production and distribution. Reference has frequently been made to the se

uring 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 secu

of the transportation system. The highway problem can never receive adequate consideration until

previously considered practicable. As a result, the interest in the motor truck as an addition to the transportation equipment of the nation, has been great

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 f

Consulting Editor of Engine

k-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

g News Record,

nsiderable 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 a

bl

eports by Six Motor Truck Ope

E F Aver

20 $5.00 $5.00 $

75 2.00 2.00

0 ... .30 .5

4.00 3.50 4.65

1.

Charges

E F Aver

$4.19 $3.60 $3.40

1.26 1.08 1.22

2.54 1.26 2.1

.20 1.00 1.00

50 ... .50 ..

2.75 1.80 1.60

.27 .20 .2

25 ... .30 .1

0.

2.93 2.05 1.90 .

.. 1.67 3.40 2.5

4.26 28.07 22

bl

city Gasoline Motor Truck Running an Avera

s wages

20% on $6000 i

on $6000 in

ranc

tal, upkeep

r repairs and sup

ings, equipment,

erhaul once

nse

repairs, pain

visio

er annu

for 240 days in the yea

per mile for 50 m

d by the month and his wages continue even though the truck is idle because of repairs, bad weather or lack

and per Mile for 5-ton

day Cos

resent tire guara

ants .

s per gal., 14 ga

0 0

charges for 240 days per ye

mile

full loads one way and

full loads one way and

f hauling freight over trunk-line railways with heavy traffic where the cost per ton-mile

f operation of motor trucks given in Table 2, there should be added the proportionate cost of maintaining the highway for the use of the truck, which is partly covered by the item "License Fee" in the table. The li

ut when promptness and speed and the consequent effect on dependent activities are considered, the motor truck often has a distinct advantage, and the use of the truck to replace horse drawn vans is progressing rapidly. This is true not only in the cities, but also in the small

the highway policy of the nation must be predic