OCR Text |
Show . . t IMPROVED I ROADS ' --u PrtCPER WIDTH OF HIGHWAYS Eighteen Feet Should Be the Minimum, Mini-mum, Not the Maximum on Main Traveled Roads. Through all the years we have been try. rig 10 maintain from forty to slxty-fnoi slxty-fnoi roads in u large percentage of our public highways when such a width was wholly unnecessary. The roml sides have not been cared for bemuse they were waste land and this lack of care bus made them spi cadcrs of weed seed arid hay fever. A narrower roadway, well kept, would In niosi eases serve all t lie purposes nii,red. drainage and safety, says Suecessf til Farming. r.im that ihe roads are to be bard Kin l'iiccd the tendency Is to go lo the n I ei extreme In order to save taxes foi paving. We must look ahead. If we put down a paving that will last (ll'ie-n or twenty years, we must estimate esti-mate "I possible the amount and kind of inifilr It will bear at that time. 't if a a - si t Pi. -t.ng the Finishing Touches on Hard Surface Road. If the rad is dangerously narrow now. a.- is t lie case where less than ivgl.leen feet Is paved, what will It be in twenty years? Klgl.lcen feel should be the minimum, mini-mum, not the maximum, and on main traveled .roads a greater width will siein narrow in twenty years. In-Eng-la: (I and France the roads are paved c! :ir lo the fences or sides of the hi; liways, unless a curb and sidewalk oi bicycle path is maintained between li.e roml and fence. Every foot is k :i in good condition. Good drainage Is as much a part of the European ! ghwiiys as is the case with our city I uved streets. We are at the beginning of motor f;'fir,s1.u. i. unless we look abend and , rovide wider pavements, we will find ilie highways crowded and our possible pos-sible relief from railway congestion annulled. A few dollars saved now in narrowing our paved highways will prove a short sighted policy. We have already seen the folly of constructing our canals too narrow i ml locks too short. The great lakes boats needed in Atlantic transport during dur-ing the war had to be cut in two and taken through the canals in pieces. i)i can ships ctiunot reach interior ports until the canals and locks are enlarged. en-larged. This is a highway lesson to us. Look to the future. |