 | University of Virginia record October 1, 1915 |  |
Community Benefits.
Communities that have built good roads, will find their reward in
this bill. Communities that desire to build good roads, will be encouraged
to go forward. Every community will be stimulated to construct
more good roads, and to transform existing dirt roads into
improved highways, in order to receive the larger compensation attaching
to permanent roads falling in the two first classes. The
critics of this measure seem to fancy that the roads of the States
are to be exclusively constructed, or maintained by the appropriation
which it carries. Nothing of the sort. It is merely a supplement to
local efforts. A permanent road on which the State spends $25 per
mile, per annum, for maintenance, may not be very adequately maintained
by that expenditure. But the expenditure of $50 per annum,
of this bill to afford the additional $25.
The cost of maintenance for a well-constructed dirt road, depends
upon a number of factors, and is a fluctuating quantity. Many of these
roads can be well maintained during a large portion of the year, on
an expenditure of $10 per annum, per mile, and admirably maintained
on an expenditure of $25 per annum, per mile. This bill will afford
$15 per mile, and the local authorities will be required to provide the
additional amount needed to maintain the road to the prescribed
standard.
The State of New York will be entitled to something like $1,000,000
per year when its roads are conformed to the requirements of this
measure. Will the gentlemen from that State who either directly,
or indirectly, are opposing this plan of national aid to State roads,
undertake to tell this House that this large sum will be rejected,
or that if received as a supplement to State contributions, it will
not give impetus to the State and local activities in the great cause
of road improvement?
The State of Texas is interested in this measure to the extent
of about $800,000 per annum. That great State boasts of what it
has done in the way of road building, and it is conceded that its
record in this respect is altogether creditable. Will the Representatives
from Texas tell this House that the sum of $800,000 as an addition
to their State and local contributions, is a negligible item, or
that once in hand this considerable sum, will not energize and stimulate
the whole scheme of road building in that State? If road building
is a State function, a material increase of road funds will induce
a more efficient discharge of that function. Throughout the Union, in
every State, and in every community, the stimulating effect of the
compensation contemplated by this bill will be noticeably felt. The
sentiment of the country favors permanent roads, and the general
tendency is toward their construction, but for the present many communities
are unable to build them. During the transition era, and
until the existing roads are replaced by the ultimate form of permanent
roads, the dirt roads should be maintained in the form most
suitable for efficient use. Hence the provision of the bill in aid of
dirt roads.
| University of Virginia record October 1, 1915 | |