Show 1 L the road program of the uintah basin 11 STATE ROAD commissioner H H BLOOD when asked to tp apak ak to you today on the ever eier important topic of utah road I 1 lias as garc c that a real task wk had been assigned me for the subject is as broad us the state aielt as lofty J j as a its hitz highest hest mountain pass and As 1 netty ai as a trip around the world for utah highways placed in a straight line would nearly encircle the globe at the equator they reach every nook and corner ot of the late state every town toan hamlet carrh and farm e every cry fishing tream and nd beauty spot they tra erse deserts and canyons cross mountain range ranges and bind together toi i widely separated tepa rated communities lets let i aftret alth ith rome figures there Is 13 said to be magic in the number 7 somi some cay the secrets of the great pyramid in egypt can be solved in part by use of this numeral other others profess to find 7 to bp bi the key to some ts in holy writ however aft t may bf he I 1 find ehlt nitric burn ber app itt it t te to utah there Is in the state 24 2 0 10 miles of roads divide this total bv by 7 and lou jou hav exactly the mileage ct cl broadi in th aste highnam system mic mile apply 7 M a p mut to the fame same road tote and you get exactly the mileage in the so called federal AJ ald system 1684 miles federal money can be pent writ on this 1684 2684 miles but cannot b spent on the remaining 1731 miles federal money can be spent however only for maintenance maln main funds over as much road as would reach from new york to san francisco and back tr te heno reno every mile of which must be watched and much of it patrolled it must more moreover construct with combined e d CO county anty state end federal funds projects that are most needed on roads long enough to reach from here to st louis and miles beyond and alth ith county help must andert ake betterments on roads t that th t reach iron from salt lake to det detroit it do you vender wonder that it Is I 1 impossible to meet promptly nil all demand demands can you understand why there ther e ire are still some soft pote spots in the east ernwine owma weak links in the chain of highways now there a a strange thina thin about road building every section of the state Is sure nearly that it is get ting uns the of 0 the deal it will be impossible ot of course to give briefly data to correct this erroneous impression a few acts facts must suffice about 1 00 hat has been in the to called southern utah dei develop elop ment this amount covering miles of roads in order to reach northeastern utah the uintah basin with ith vernal as the object he miles from salt lake via heber city there hu h been expended or contracted 00 Inc lidin iding forest money with another oon soon to be spent to the cart and southeast fouth east an effort hai lias been made to provide adequate to utah ci ca on n emery grand and san juan counties and roughly ha has gone into construction projects from spanish fork rork via price oreen green river and moab to monticello very heavy mount hair gone into central and northern utah counties connecting brehe box elder weber D da avis vis salt lake utah and juab counties t with hard surfaced roads and reaching into morgan and summit counties with standard itan dard groveled grive led highways in south central section sections ran pote selar plute garfield and kane on the cast side of the mountain ns end nd Pl illard beaver deaver iron an and d washington on the west A est side ha have e all been continued 0 i page 4 TUE THE ra in OF THE continued from 1 reached with road projects while too ele on ti tle tie e west and nich on the north haw have each had hid important improvements no federal project projects are in wayne and dartt counties except that some forest roads have been coni strutted the policy of the commission Is to reach all sections of the state at aa early a date as possible and to treat all sections fairly but let Is be said with emphasis we cannot do everything at once sources 01 0 state funda and their use you know of 0 course that utah has no as a state to levy and collect a statewide state wide ad valorem valoree tax tor for road building when utah a constitution was written there were no modem highways in the fate state and consequently no highway problem existed the automobile had not yet arrived there were roads of course fly earth roads the deep that tilled filled ruts cut by wagon wheels made travel unpleasant in summer and when tte tt e dust became mud travel ea was all suspended in winter still we should not bo b too quick to critic criticism ise those road roads came near serving the needs of 1390 1394 as well as our well built highways today serve the needs ot of this period indeed it Is probable no more complaints were registered then than thin now against the condition 01 0 roads this Is just another wiy ot of saying that notwithstanding all our efforts all our expenditures we are keeping keepin 1 pace in road com with the ma marv ellous nellous development of highway transportation and its tremendous 1 demands on the public purse be that as it may no state levy tor for road roads was as provided tor for in constitution when the imperative necessity became evident tor for spending large sume on roads the legislature in order to provide funds for state rood road purposes turned to the next larget taxing unit tin tho county and enacted a law per mitti ig counties hi to levy a tax for state roid road purposes B 1 of not ne ti P exceed three mills on the dollar of valuation and a like sum for count road purpose purposes this provision falls to meet the situation at tat facto ly there are two objections to it ai as a permanent plan of financing state cont contraction ruction and maintenance maln teance first the levy ley Is to be made at the discretion of county commissioners 5 it Is not mandatory second th funds raided raised mul b spent in the county providing then the n the legislature was right in makin making the C law reid as it does plea do not L thirk there is any ide v si ch provisions sho lid ild be changed the county commissioners should probably con dinue to ha e control of the levying power and so long as they do and mae male ma e levies of varying peren percentages in the several counties it be wrong 0 o change chante the provision eo ai As t to 0 permit statewide state stale wide use of funds thus col cot acted only in case eve i county w would 0 uld levy the same mills tax could the t h e funds be justly used statewide state wide it if this ere done it would in effect be a state levy nor Is there a thought of criticizing county boards for the tue they have made in the past of ther their taxing pow er on the contrary the fine me 6 cooperation of boards of county count commissioners it 0 er the state haa has made possible nos sible I 1 ri baress that haa has marked road bulling bul bing in utah the past several years many of the poorer counties have hae continuous year after year levied the of three mills and willingly turned over the money to the road commission to match federal aid provide better betterments merita where federal aid was not available ani formerly to main tain or assist in maintaining the state highways in their counties sort conre e have gone further and in order to hasten construction of main routes have tati part of the county road funds s and nd added them to the state road to total 1 the state road corn com emlon I 1 acknowledges its obligation to these loyal county officials your commissioners hee he e in indah basin have been leaders in me progressive and constructive help they have given the road program however How everi the construction ator ment and maintenance of miles of f main highways comartin comp rtin the state roid ad system vw was found to be an immense task many counties could not under the law carry the burden seven millions of state road bunds bonds had been issued and the money had been berri pent spent something had to be done to DAY interest end and ti retire the borda the gasoline law 0 caa 02 2 into existence its lity Is 13 parent there Is no fairer means of securing revenue than by applying metered service on a nay day for what you use I 1 plan plarl this gasoline tax pays that part of interest and sinking funds on bonds S no not paid by automobile license tees fees it pays for ter its own administration for state road commission overhead and the balance goes directly into roads th original 34 2 cents per gallon gasoline tax enabled the commission in 1924 to lift half the burden of maintenance of state roads from the counties when in 1923 the galline lne tax was increased in 34 cents the commission took over the entire maintenance costs blus making possible lower county maxs there remained however the necessity ot of calling upon counties for funds to match federal aid and to make cd ed bett betterments ermens where no federal project could be initiated e of S the border counties having small vali and long stretches of state roads have hae absolutely unable to meet these demands and the state 5 hm has been forced to relieve them in i part in order to close important igara gara in the system but here again there Is 13 a difficult ty for the gasoline tax contrary to what seems to be the idea of same Is not inexhaustible the demands that come from many sources it might be said sail from almost every county cannot all be met the money lust just la is not tere that a all county contributions to state road work reached its maximum in 1929 when it was under operation of the present system with gasoline taxes license fees and transportation companies taxes the are contributing only about 00 00 per year to state rop Is naturally this ro reduction is 13 welcomed by every county dhosi lent least able to pay especially you will see that what a needed 1 13 more gamine tax revenue and perhaps further adjustment ot of transportation por tation taxes to still further transfer from counties to the state the construction construct lon and maintenance load on state hah a s I 1 1 but here we are met with a serious and menacing suggestion to the effect that cities and counties should share in these fund funds there has ha been in some states a division of ca carolne olne taxes among cities counties and the state it Is reported to be unsatisfactory y in operation it has been tried in utah such a plan would be dis disastrous the highways are not fully and adequately maintained due to lack of funds there was spent last year tor for maintenance and for betterments ter ments to say nothing of fund funis necessary to match and make available federal aid the gasoline tax cannot carry the present load more money Is urgently necessary to meet demands each year finds the commission short of funds and the next vear vears revenues have to be anticipated due to increasing mileage of improved roads demanding heavier upkeep costs and due more than all else to the insistent demands of motorists for better bud ruid still better road roads the commission Commis faces a problem right now that only Ir increased creased financial resources can solve the only sources from which to draw are as before stated county levies and the state highway fund made up of gasoi taxes automobile license fees and transportation companies taxes surely we do not want to go back to the counti counties s with heavier demands that would lw bm a it step backward in highway financing it would be a reversion to en an unequal and perhaps unfair system rather should we look took to furtha r relief tor for those carry ing in and dwely able to carry the unequal load tiie the alternative Is to guard well the of revenue and see tint that no nn P legislation Is successful which bpi f aim the division and scat seat of these funds the well mean ln in but improperly informed persons n are advocating such action as vald v ald divert these funds to city and bounty purposes should be shown the folly of such a course let me re deat that what Is needed Is more not less revenue for state highway work it must be forthcoming it if utah Is to keo ja abreast of her sister states in acid building ladies and gentlemen gent lemer lenier this Is 13 no special plea from one who by reason of his connect connection lon with ith state highway work is riding a hobby or seeing things inimical to the best interests of the state where they do not exist this Is a statement of present conditions financially this is the era of the automobile and this ts 13 the day of good roads utah is bidding for tourist travel and I 1 if it she were not doing that there till would remain the necessity for providing tor for those of our own house one of the necessary provisions for our motor owners is not mt only good roads but better roads every collar spent comes back in savin of tires lower repair costs decreased car depreciation greater comfort increased safety statistics ore are available to pro e that it pays to build and maintain high standard roads we are facing a time folks when road construction and maintenance standards ua be higher than now doubtless the next generation will smile at our crude efforts and wonder how we ever endured such roads that I 1 artess we all take wing and make the air our real highways for the present while still we are on earth there Is in progress the greatest marathon of all timo time between road builders and road users the first trying to treet the demands of the second and finding themselves forever pushed criticized censured because they cannot keep ahead of the ever increasing and swift moving motor vehicle and its owner ladles and gentlemen you have a lital sital interest in keeping the gasoline tax and motor vehicle tax forming the state highway fund intact and in having it adminis administered ered in the interest of the whole state at present we may say frankly no effort is made mad to I 1 open spend 11 1 the bulk of fie tle money in the counties where most automobiles are owned which consequently pay the larger part pin of the taxes rather the commission take takes into account the condition and importance of the state roads and expenditures are made where most needed without regard ta to county lines in other worda words the state Is regarded as a unit for road building purpose purposes it follows that the outside districts with relatively sparse population and limited wealth but with large state road mileage gets proportionately more cf of the gasoline taxes or state highway funds mot not that they are unduly favored but because the interests of the bole whole state and of th the populace and wealthy centers especially demand that lines of communication and transportation be established and maintained to high at to promote the general welfare tl 71 e plans of those who spilt split up the gasoline tax and give ge part to cities and countie caun tIft for local aises are not fully known and should not therefore be discussed b t it may be said with truth that any plan of distribution based on population automobile ownership or volume of taxes paid would inevitably leave the poorer counties in bad shape for instance ns tance figures compiled in our office show that based upon the ratio of motor vehicles assessed in uintah basin to the ret estered in the state the aasin 1 is entitled to 18 per cent of the funds used for maintenance of roads based upon population the basin would be entitled to 1 19 per cent of the funds but in 1937 1927 the basin received 57 37 per cent of the funds budgeted for general and special maintenance maint enarce this ai erter budget ta in favor of your section is defensible fen sible of your excess road nane cl 4 the neavy transportation demands surely you do not want the present system upset federal aid and celton bill for a number of years it has his been apparent to those engaged in highway construction in western public land states that if the present generation is to see and |