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Show Road Building Proves a Problem Making modern highway involves so many problems that expert engineering, engin-eering, financing and construction all play their part. No longer will a mere cutting down of trees and I rough grading a road bed serve the public. i Before a modern highway can be j properly and economically built, the j taxpayers must ask, and the experts' answer, a number of very pertinent questions. It must be determined what the highway can, and second what it should cost. Next, and intimately concerned with the first, is the problem prob-lem of what sum yearly can, and what sum should, be spent for maintenance. main-tenance. The better the road in the beginning, the less the necessary j maintenance, and vice versa. If the road has several different geographic sections, what type of roads should be built for these? Road built through swamp areas need one type of foundation, that built on rocky hills, another; some roads re- j quire expensive drainage foundations j others do not. ! What is the maximum traffic to be ! provided for? This means planning; for the road five, ten, twenty-five i years hence, as well as tomorrow, j Broadway, New York, and Washing-1 ton Street, Boston, were planned for! small traffic. Their narrowness caus-1 es millions loss yearly. How much shall the taxpayer pay j for the road and how much the j users? What proportion of upkeep j shall fall on the makers of the road ! and what on the horses, wagons,! automobiles and trucks? Tax tool heavily, and the road isn't used; tax! too lightly, and the taxpayer suffers. What shall be the location? How much shall be put into reducing i grade and curve, and how much into width and length? All these are per- j tinent questions. Not knowing the; answers, no citizen can vote intelli-! gently upon road taxes or bonds. j |