Show american cities are cc walled in by inadequate pavement the chicago tribune in an editorial walled in chicago february 27 1925 refers to the thirteen gateways tor for motor traffic into the city these gateways it is stated have a total width of less than teet feet they are the improved highways none of them paved to a width of 0 more than 18 teet feet so tar far as ingress or exit by motor vehicle is concerned the city is walled in from the country except for or these inadequate gateways these same facts are true ot of mo most t I 1 of americas cities many of bf them including chicago are Nv working on plans to widen the existing gateways and to provide new ones transportation is the basis of 0 trade and america is employing more motor vehicle transportation every year choked gateways will choke trade A motor vehicle gateway may not be located at the city limits it may be inside or outside the city perhaps both it may be a street or highway intersection a narrow stretch of pavement a wide hole or a length ol of rough surface it may be temporary due to a punctured tire a stalled engine a motor truck discharging a load or a muddy dangerous shoulder upon which a motor vehicle dare not venture A mile is a long distance it you have to walk it means fifteen minutes of time at a brisk pace for a motor car a mile in three minutes is not very fast it if a tire goes flat on a country highway and you cannot turn off the pavement to change you have to block traffic on your side of 0 the road a temporary gateway ev ery three minutes sets you a mile ot of your journey it the road Is moderately crowded say a car every three hundred feet going each way at twenty miles an hour there should be a car passing over the spot where you are standing almost every ten seconds it these cars cannot pass you in ten minutes time there will be a line ot of more than sixty cars expending back along the road tor for a quarter ot of a mile and the line growing at the rate ot of another car every ten seconds those sixty idling engines will wast over ten gallons ot of g gasoline asoline in a ten minute wait that little temporary gateway of 0 yours cost that string ot of cars about 1250 depending upon whar whai they paid tor for gas do you know a place where two main paved roads cross each other it this intersection is near a large city you can recall many holidays when long lines ot of cars waited a chance to get past that intersection A gallon of 0 gasoline is wasted every time sixty cars wait one minute how many times hav have eyou you seen those lines more than a halt half mile long in each direction from the corner and how many times have hate you waited from ton ten min utes to a halt half hour for your chance to get past that intersection your engine burning gas all the time you might just as well have thrown away the money that gasoline cost as tar far as any useful purpose Is concerned the money thus wasted would justify the improvement of 0 the crossroad gateway perhaps the simplest improvement pro would be a circular track at the intersection upon entering this every vehicle turns to the right and proceeds around until reaching the proper exit tor for the direction ot of the journey this has been done successfully in cities notably columbus circle in new york dupont circle in washington D C and lee circle in new orleans such an arrangement with some widening of the pavement for or a few hundred feet on the approaches pro aches should remove gateway congestion at many highway intersections A more elaborate and expensive scheme but justified by the traffic volume at many locations would be the construction of an overhead bridge tor for one line of highway with parallel flanking surface pavement to care tor for turning traffic dozens of cities are walled in by rough pavement thanks to our state highway departments most of the main rural thoroughfares near the large cities are well paved even thru the pavement may not be wide enough inside the city a few blocks of rough street may choke the movement of traffic just as completely as does a highway intersection beyond the city limits the increased cost of moving dense traffic over this rough pavement is many times the cost of a new and adequate surface A bad hole in the pavement is a traffic obstruction in a heavy traffic street it may form a gateway no driver will risk a broken spring it if he can turn out and around the hole thus the available roadway is narrowed often dangerously many cities have awakened to the menace of 0 inadequate gateways there are some big tasks ahead which require cooperation between city county and state authorities public interest has to be awakened public support will follow the awakened interest and intelligently conducted campaigns of education are the necessary avenues into the taxpayers consciousness the agencies now active in developing public interest are the various city plan commissions and regional planning associations official and unofficial these organizations are working to widen gateways and break down barriers they should have your support their purpose is to conserve your time and money to improve your transportation facilities facil aties and to make your community a letter better place to live in concrete highway magazine |