OCR Text |
Show Survey Shows Need for Improvement of Roads Traffic surveys made by the state of South Carolina show that well over half the total traffic in the state was confined to about 6 per cent of the total mileage of public roads in the state outside of the larger cities and towns. It also showed that the average aver-age motor traffic on the improved roads of the state highway system was about 400 vehicles per day. On a number of the principal highways the traffic exceeded 1,000 vehicles per day and on a few short stretches this number was Increased to 2,000. Based on these traffic counts, made on various parts of the state highway system, It was estimated that the total distance traveled by motor vehicles on the improved part of the state highway high-way system was around 425,000,000 miles. From these figures it is evident that the total cost of operating motor vehicles ve-hicles on the highways of the state may be greatly decreased by concentrating concen-trating road Improvement on the highways high-ways bearing the greatest amount of traffic. If only a small change in the cost of motor vehicle operation is effected ef-fected by improving the roads, and tests have definitely proved this fact, then the improvement of the heavy traffic roads will result in the greatest great-est saving to the highway-using public. pub-lic. For example, a variation of only 1 cent per mile In the cost of operating op-erating over Improved roads, when applied ap-plied to the 425,000,000 miles traveled on the state system during the year, amounts to $4,250,000, a sum which will more than earn itself in the lower low-er cost of operation and which is sufficient suf-ficient to make a vast difference in the condition of the roads if applied to highway improvement. |