East Oregonian Round-Up Souvenir Edition
Pendleton, Oregon, Thursday, September 20, 1917
Twenty-Eight Pages
The Permanent Highway as An Investment to The State
Page Six
(By Dr. K I. Hpwm, IMstriot Engineer
Ignited 8ate office Pnblic Koads
and Rural KntClneerinR.
It In of considerable assistance In
eur study of a problnm to approach
It from a new direction. In ordinary
affaJra the word "investment" Is well
understood, and Is associated with a
complementary term, "income." Your
attention is invited at this point on
the program to the meaning which
must b iclven to the turm investment
nm applied to public htKhway erpen
d it urea. It will then be necessary to
consider th question of highway in
come and we shall try and arrive ut
at aome agreement as to the relation
of these two term.
At first thought a wide difference
appears between public expenditures
for highways and the idea of invest
ment. By an examination of the evo
lution of h iff h way disbursements we
are led to ask the questions: What
has been the evolution of highway ex
penditures? Are not modern high
ways performing larger services than
formerly? Are they not positive in
struments of commercal and social de
velopment? Do they not require fi
nancing of a more intelligent and able
type than ever before?
Early in our history h Ik h ways were
crude. They served as stage routes.
Incomplete and abhorrent. When the
railroad came it was a relief to aban
don them to local service. For half
a century the financing of highway
construction and intermittent repair
was a matter of local taxation, and
Irksome as the device of statue labor
indicates. The stagre of disintegration
of the highways was the principal
stimulus for action. There was almost
no attempt to fix a highway stand
ard and then to create a public fund
for keeping to that standard.
Hand to Mouth Finance.
This method of hand-to-mouth fi
nancing had by 1891 begun to reach
the limit of public endurance. Pos
sibly to the League of American
Whee'men belongs the credit of first
rousing the state of New Jersey to
Improve road conditions. There were
no first-class roads in this country at
that time. County officials were con
scious of the Inadequacy of the fi
nances, but less willing to admit de
fects in the organization.
The state of New Jersey, however,
wisely offered engineering advice and
at the same time aid from the state
treasury. The important point for this
discussion is the fact thafc then for
the first time city taxes were made
available for countv highways. But
this was not all. The New Jersey
plan carried with it the inducement
to builr roads that were not merelv
casual attempts to move mud and fill
chuck holes, but real engineering
structures.
Massachusetts immediately adopt
ed a similar plan, and insured the
construction of roads to a uniform
standard by increasing the control of
the state over state-financed high
ways. The lesson was soon apparent. By
concentrating funds, by the adoption
of sound methods of construction, and
by the employment of skilled highway
engineers good roads could be had.
And every, mile of good road built in
a community which had up to then
been lacking adequate roads created
an insistent demand for more miles.
In 1S94 Massachusetts issued $300,000
three-and -one-half -per-cent. twenty-six-year
sinking-fund bonds for high
wuys. This was a distinctly new step
in road financing, and may be said to
mark the beginning of an ephoc. since
that time through the state highway
departments of fourty-four states thr
had been expended for highways a
total of $265.350. S24 to January 1.
1916. More than fiO.402 miles of road
have resulted, of which approximate
ly 40,000 miles are hard-surfaced.
By the year 1900 several of our 3.
000 counties had issued highway
bonds for county roads, and thus a
second period of highway financing
began. By January 1. 1914. 123J
counties had issued highway bonds to
' n tnt.il amount rtt 1 2 S fi fi R 7. 0 7 3 We
do not know the resulting mileage.
These figures show that highway
disbursements for twenty years have
rapidly increased. But as yet no ac
count has been taken of local expen
ditures other than from bond issues.
The first count of all annual highway
expenditures including the local ex
penuditures. was made in 1904 by the
office of public roads, and showed a
total of $80,000,000 for that year,
one-fourth of which was the value of
statute labor. The same count in
1909 showed a corresponding figure
of $160,000,000. The last count was
taken for 1915, and the total annual
expenditure was found to be approx
imately $282,000,000. of which prob
ably not over $15,000,000 was in stat
ute labor.
Two significant facts stand out
from these figures: First, the great
increase in highway expenditures; sec
ond, the relative increase of state
control. Roads received eighty million
in 190 4 and two hundred and eighty
two million in 1915. State controlled
less than six per cent of the expendi
tures in 1904. and more than thirty
per cent in 1915.
What is the limit of this increasing
expenditure ? How much money
ought a given community to expend
for roads? There are certain checks
on highway expenditures. First on
alt is the valuation of taxable proper
ty as an index of current public
wealth. This limitation has no fixed
value for any extended period. Valu
ations in any given area almost al
ways increase. State highway ap
propriations have supplemented the
:an local valuations by introducing a
redistribution of the tax revenues.
Public credit has been called upon in
the form of state and municipal road
bonds. The federal government has
recently again supplemented both lo
cal and state funds with funds from
the I'nited States treasury totaling
$85,000,000 for the next five years.
There is. however, a second check
ond at the same time a stimulus for
highway expenditures, and that is the
I service which the highways must per
form.
The Duty of Road.
This service or duty of the roads
has not received sufficient attention
There have arisen in the past, broadly
speaking, two divisions of highway
enthusiasts, one called for strictly ra
dial market roads, and the other for
through highways. As usual, both
schools are right in part, and a work
able basis has been found by a judi
cious compromise. The throuph rouds
must begin at centers of population.
When these radial sections are com
pleted they may then be connected to
form the through roads of greatest
necessity.
But a more precise measure of the
duty of highways is desirnble. The
term "market road." "trunk high
way." "light traveled road," and
"heavy traveled road" are relative
terms, and often misleading. The true
measure of the service performed by
a highway is found only by actually
counting the traffic. This taking of
traffic census is becoming more and
more frequent. It has been accom
plished on a statewide basis in Massa
chusetts on three occasions. Illinot
has made a partial count on a state
wide scale. New York took a second
state wide census last fall. Traffic
counts have also been made in Cali
fornia and Maine. The results are
very Instructive The general traffic
is heavier than is supposed. No nu
emricai guess of highway travel is
ever reliable. The figures show that
traffic Is immediately attracted to
better roads, even at a sacrifice in
distance. Perhaps the greatest lesson
is the rapid increase on the same
roads from year to year. Next is the
'ncreasing percentage of motor-driven
vehicles and the relatively larger
number of trucks. New York and
Maine figures show r. surprising traf
fic in foreign cars.
Equally enlightening is economic
saving which good roads permit. It
is commonly accepted that it costs
between twenty and thirty cents o
haul a ton one mile on an average
unimproved earth road. On hard
snrfaced modern state highways the
enst is seldom above fifteen cents.
Your attention is invited then to th
saving in commercial hauling on a
road that carries 100 to 10no tons
daily. Is not such a road earning a
daily invisible income of $10 or $100
respectively ?
Motor vehicles occupy a most in
teresting and important place in
modern highway traffic. In 100
there were practically no automobiles:
today there are over three million ma
chines. They paid license fees to the
states in 1901 amounting to $954;
year before last the revenue from li
censes, etc., was $1 $.24 5.7 13 und near
ly all this money was applied to the
construction and maintenance of
public roads. Over seventy per cent
of it was under the control and super
vision of stoat e highway departments.
Briefly then recent highway expen
ditures have ceased to be strictly lo
cal in character, have enormously in
creased, have tended to become more
and more controlled by the state,
have by virtue of the increase and
state control enabled the construc
tion of more than twice the mileage of
the famous national roads of France,
have secured nearly seven per cent of
their funds in 19 15 from motor ve
hicle revenues, and have eben accom
panied by a constantly accelerated
growth in traffic, which traffic moves
at a markedly reduced cost per ton
mile.
What then should be the basis of
planning for the future'.' Three years
ago the office of public roads point
ed out that highway expenditures for
all future construction should be re
garded as money to be invested and
not merely spent. Before fixing the
amount of money to be made avail
nble for a mad there should be a
careful study of the traffic needs.
The width, type and extent of eacn
highway should be governed by pres
ent traffic data and a large factor of
safety should be allowed for the fu
ture. The commonly regarded permanent
features of all first-class highways
should always include the grade and
alignment which in the east is about
forty per cent of the total cost. That
is to say. such work should he well
done for all time, if you please. The
width, depth and type of surfacing
should be carefully studied with ref
erence to traffic needs and mainten
ance, and should be so selected that
the service will be most economically
satisfied. The selection of surface
t pe for economy of construction and
maintenance Is of utmost Importance,
Maintenance Needed.
No type of road surface yet devis
ed will serve without maintenance It
is true that some types have a higher
traffic endurance than others and
that some types will enable the post
ponement of upkeep charges longer
t ha n ot hers, but all surfaces wear
with traffic and disintegrate from
weather. I'sually the higher-cost sur
faces, such as brick and concrete,
will, if successfully ,ald. present very
low annual charges for continuous
maintenane. but even they are not ab
solutely permanent and when repairs
do become needed they w ll doubtles.
be heavy.
To safeguard the investment in
highways it must be realized that alt
the avai'able road money cannot bo
spent for construction. The charges
for continuous maintenance and pe
riodic repairs must be faced from the
outset. The adjustment then of the
relation of first cost and probable
cost of maintenance is of great im
portance and requires experienced
Judgment.
Too frequently highways are pro
jected without the services of men
of suffic ent skill. Highway engineer
ing has had a great development even
during the past ten years. The men
of most experience are most careful
in their recommendations They
know the changing cond:tions. In
planing highway investments that
this advice Is indispensable.
For example, a county bond Issue
lor highways should not be made
without complete report from a thor
oughly competent highway engineer.
County highway bond issues in the
county probably total today nearly
half a billion dollars. Burly in the
(Continued on 1'fge l.f
3
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f t? In i' if Hi--' i lir -in ir ' D I nt if Wr n i n in I I H 11 1 rmf HI l' infnfii
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Man nfwtn ring Druggets
Pendleton, Oregon.
While in the "ftound--Cp City" visit our
druf store and try oar famous Chocolate
Iue Cream.
Our prescri pt Ion depart men t a nder per
sonal supervision of a graduate of the Phila
delphia College of riiarmacy.
KOEPPEN'S
Tho Unit Store Tluit fcTe You Kent.
125 Cm Oourt Sir -el.
Our famous "PEMECO" products come direct from the range and field to you.
Our Specialties Bunch Grass Beet
P6ID6C0 BrSflO jMfSSS!r Wheat Fed Pork
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yr Bacon " . i ::. 'i :ivL Sold IVM
k Lard j : ... .r VJW Wfe4
H " - 1 merit 5$r&
W
. . t 1 t 1 ? I . 1m. .
E are located riKht in the heart of the livestock industry of Eastern Oregon. Our ?tock for market U brought dtrect fro th. range and Items, au " "WdT"
concrete nlant not shinDed here under varying condition irom coia storage piams. Lterytnirj proimra anu imnui iu a . - - .
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You Buy from the Following Modern Markets Who Sell Our Products
Pendleton Cash Market
303 East Court Street Telephone 101
L. B. Ramsdell, Pres. Harvey McPherson, Vice-Pres.
Mrs. Nellie Horton, Sec. & Treas. H. P. Whitman, Mgr.
WHOLESALE
PACKERS
The Central Market
108 East Alt Street Telephone 455
Ross E. Carney, Pres. J. H. Loeding, Sec.-Treas.