OCR Text |
Show Planning Surveys To Put Highways On Business Basis Highway planning surveys, designed de-signed to put future highway improvement on an orderly, business-like basis, are now under way or will begin soon in thirty-six thirty-six states, report s the Utah Motorist Mo-torist association. These surveys will develop vitally-needed information that will take road building of the haphazard, trust-to-luck stag and put it on a sound, well-planned basis. According to officials of the Bureau of Public Roads, which is co-operating with state highway high-way departments in making the surveys, more attention must be paid in he future to Improving secondary and feeder roads and to improving conditions where the main highways pour their traffic into cities. At the same time, highways must be maintained main-tained and further improved to meet needs that already exist, particularly with relation to safety. In a general way, the surveys sur-veys are divided into three ma.in sections, a road inventory, a traffic survey, and a financial and use survey. The road inventory is to show mileage, types, widths, degree of safety and type of locality served. The traffic survey sur-vey is designed to show the character and extent of travel on the various roads of the state, and will permit a selection selec-tion of roads on the basis of relative importance. This survey, sur-vey, it is hoped, also will determine de-termine the extent to which heavier vehicles cause wear and tear on the roads. The financial and use survey covers the costs, expenditures and revenues of the highways. This includes gasoline taxes, registration registra-tion fees, special taxes, and diversion; di-version; yield of the taxes; who pays them and relative contributions contri-butions of urban and rural residents. |