Show MAKES appearance THIS WEEK utah highways Hf hway ie Is the n name sime ofa of new publication which reached th the time times independent leek desk this week it is published by the state road corn mission and ii is devoted to the inter este eats of highway improvement throughout utah 11 II V richard richards Is f the editor A leading article in the edition gives five the status of the federal aid project projects under construction in the krate heading a the lilt list of uch such pro listed acts ire are the moab road as 91 94 per cent complete and the moab la I a sal gal project go 90 per cent complete the moab pro eject 37 79 miles in lengthy ww will on if its completion cost 60 while lethe the moab la sal 2325 mile miles in length will have coet cost 13 up on iti its completion thus the total cost of the federal aid projects from Thomp thompson sons to la sal junction will aggregate in excess of 00 the question of the uee use of funda derived from the tate state gasoline tax Is inter stingly dae abed in the edition sine since tw is a matter halt vitally every tax taxpayer paye our reader readers will be interested in want the road commission hae has to sal ay ii n the matter the article follows fol lowa with the tate state engaged in fit collecting I 1 a tx tax of two and a half centi cents on every gallon of gasoline old sold and beadily steadily tea dily accumulating a fund for maintenance of tate state road roads the question naturally arises in every county S when will the state take over its roads and supervise and finance their maintenance T let us first co consider nalder when we may have dot not sufficient funds but any funds at fill in the state treasury for maintenance the operation of the new law will require the funding annually of the costs of former construction st represented by our in bond issues outstanding before the commission will have any funds placed at sit its disposal for present requirements quire ments since the maximum returns from the gas tax will be during the summer months and approximately one half of the total annual returns will be required to take care of the bond issues we cannot expect to relieve the counties to any appreciable extent this ear car in other words most of the work accomplished in adv one season will be financed largely from funds obtained during the preceding year better toads roads will mean decreased fuel consumption but they will also mean an increase in the amount of traffic enough perhaps to offset the increased amount required for the bond fund beginning with 1925 on this basis we will assume that we will have available every bear ear for maintenance purposes allowing an average maintenance cost of per mile on oil 1000 miles 0 state roads this will furnish juet just half enough to finance a conservative maintenance program ioner the question then as to taking oer the entire mileage for once is readily answer answered eft 1 we cannot do it the state and the counties countie swill have ave to finance the roads on a fifty fifty basis just how the problem will be handled what roads the state alone will maintain if any and whether adjustments of state aid will be made on the basis balls of mileage and population or paid to the several counties in MUM sums ie Is now under consideration con A report reached don taylor the last of the week that a number of lambs on his ranch at castleton Cst leton had bad died from some disease and others were sick mr taylor immediately notified the state veterinarian with the request that he make nn an fily esti gation aaion no further report have been received this week as to loss of adeep eineo mr taylor left for the mountain sunday to make an investigation of the reported ra malady |