OCR Text |
Show Removing Snow on Roads Greater Task Each Year (Prtpared by the United States Department of Agriculture.) Snow removal ou important trunk-line trunk-line highways is becoming a matter of increasing importance each winter, says the bureau of public roads of the United States Department of Agriculture. Agricul-ture. Investigations of the bureau show that there is a considerable mileage of road which the public can ill afford to lose the use of each winter. As a result of traffic Investigations in Connecticut, it Is estimated that 1,-019.6SS 1,-019.6SS net tons of commodities were transported over the state system in the three months' period beginning with September, 1922. More than a third of this tonnage moved only from one to nine miles, and nearly another third moved from ten to twenty-nine miles. These figures are given to show that in Industrial sections there is a large volume of short-haul traffic which does not compete with the railroads and which cannot be carried by the railroads when the highways become snowbound. It is difficult to estimate the amount of inconvenience to passenger travel caused by snow, but with at least one motor vehicle to every ten people in a majority of the states, it must be considerable. In many sections motor bus travel is increasingly relied upon by rural communities. It is reported that there are 450 such lines in Ohio, 283 in Pennsylvania and large numbers in other states where snow is a problem. So great is the importance of keeping these lines in operation that cases are known where companies have cleared their lines of snow at their own expense. |