Show e BETTER HIGHWAYS YIELD BIG PROFIT american motorists cash in a yearly dividend of 10 per cent on tile capital invested through feddern aid ah in the improved highways of the country ae ac cording to a statement issued by tit tha american automobile association tills this dividend actually goes into tho the pockets 08 of tile the motorists and represents the difference between the cost of motor vehicle operation over uni 1 it proved and improved highways T tho I 1 io differential which Is conservative Is 19 based on extensive engineering tests testa of motor vehicle operation costs mado made in different sections of the country and for different types of roads A recent survey made in kentucky shows that there la Is on tile the average a saving of aj cents a mile in tile the cost of operation over improved roads find and 1 highways I gli ways some time thue ago it si similar nillar investigation conducted in iowa indicated approximately tile same saving it liaa has been estimated many times that tile the average car runs approximately miles a yeat year A saving of 2 cents a mile for miles amounts to 50 a year for automobiles tills this would mean it a saving of a year on gasoline tires parts parta upkeep renewals and all phases of operation this would bo be tile the total saving it every mile over which fill an automobile traveled was improved but of course only miles of highway have been improved by federal aid this miles represents slightly more than 2 per cent of the total lilg highway hway system which amounts to approximately miles two per cent of gives li which can be legitimately credited to federal aid the total capital tit expenditure for federal aid was waa OW which yields a year or 10 per cent in saving to the user of improved highways the study made by the iowa state college the iowa lilg highway hway commis commission slon and the bureau of public roads showed that the gasoline consumed on a paved road was only approximately one half the gasoline consumed on a dirt road per unit of traffic In incidentally cidell the investigation developed that the gasoline consumed per unit of traffic can be taken ns as an index of the other costs of motor vehicle operation it showed in fact that there Is a definite nite relation existing between the guiol gasoline lne consumption per unit of traffic ond and other items of cost in vehicle operation era tion F it white chief engineer of tile tha highway commission estimated that through improvement of a roa road I 1 surface the gasoline consumption 1 Is cut in two the cost of tires Is cut in two tile the same applying to other items including depreciation and repairs for the first time these studies 4 make it possible to present in terms of dollars and cents the difference in cost to the motorist and the public in genera between improved and unimproved roads according to the iowa study gramc equaling vehicles cles per lay day over earth roads requires an annual expenditure pend iture from both private and public funds of per mile while a similar amount of transportation over a c ton loncie creto te surface coats coats 20 65 per mile rf this means bilatz tant fot g earth road carryl carrying ng 1 I op a day there would be sa iv ed 14 P per 1 mile per year if the same traffie traffic went over a paved road surface assuming the cost of paving a dirt road to be per mile the saving in transportation cost would actually pay for the capital outlay in from four to six years the difference between the cost of operation on a gravel road tind 11 paved road would pay for the difference in the cost of construction in three years |