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Show SHALL UTAH 1 PAVING The statement was recently made at a Salt Lake Rotary club luncheon, . and is now being freely circulated, that Utah has more paved highways than all of its border states combined, i. e., Nevada, Idaho, Wyoming, Colorado Colo-rado and Arizona. Statistics have it, however, that after all the paved highways high-ways placed under contract this year in these several states have been constructed, con-structed, that that statement will scarcely apply. As a matter of fact, Utah, up until the present time, has placed under contract, independent of municipalities, municipali-ties, a total of but 141. f7 miles of paved highways, '18.22 miles of which were for solid concrete construction, according to an official of the Utah Portland Cement association. When we compare with this total for Utah the number of miles of concrete highways high-ways recently placed under contract , by a single county in Arizona, i. e., 228 miles, we can better appreciate that if our enviable position, as described by the aforementioned statement, is to hold true, we will have to make some rapid strides in roadbuilding during the coming year. In Arizona, the county commencing such an unusually large road program as 228 miles is Maricopa, of which Phoenix Is the county seat. The county has a population of 75,000. To finance the construction of 228 miles of 6-inch thick concrete roads required re-quired a bond issue of $4,000,000, which passed with little difficulty. Rumors have It that next year still more bonds will be voted to provide A for additional highways. ' Although Utah last year ranked l first of all the states by virtue of the ' number of miles of concrete roads con- ( traded for per 100,000 of population, . I thaj seat of honor was easily usurped this year by Arizona, ' Utah will continue with its road construction con-struction program next year only if -' Its innoming legislature will , provide . the necessary funds. Otherwise, little - , more than, simply maintenance of et-' ': . " -,4atin$.;hj!&i,can Mthme... . , ,... ; . - " . --'How can additional' funds for high-. .m-:i:. ' way purposes be provided? Several '. .valuable suggestions to this end have T . " been made and are now being given ."''' serious consideration in good roads '. ' -circles generally. They are as follows :V - V First. Under the present law, the'" """ state cannot bond for more than 1 1-2 .' per cent of its assessed valuation, which on a basis of the returns for this year ($216,000,000), defines a limit of $10,680,000. Of this amount, bonds have already bepn issued for road purposes, being finanocd by the automobile license tax, to the extent of $8,410,000. There remains, then, a bonding limit of $2,270,000. ' (Should constitutional amendment Xo. 3, providing pro-viding to increase the bonding limit to Z per cpnt have pasped. a total of $3,-640.000 $3,-640.000 could be converted to the state ' road fund). This amount ($2.'!70,000), coupled with $1,400,000 which will next year accrue from the fpdpral a;ov-ernment. a;ov-ernment. would create a total fund of $.1,670,000, sufficient to enable the state to continue with a sane road-building road-building program. Second. A gpneral tax of, say 3 mills,, could be levied for state road purposes. Such a levy would make available $2,238,000, based on the present total assessed valuation. The levies made by the several counties, independently, this year -for roads, netted the . state $1,200,000, which is equivalent to a blanket levy of about 1 1-2' mills. Revenues from this source, however, would not be available until near the end of the year. Third. The present personal property prop-erty tax on automobiles, now going into the general fund, could be applied to the state road fund. This, it is estimated, esti-mated, would nrovide very nearly $1,000,000 annually. Obviously this matter of highway construction is one of the most vital problems with which the incoming legislature will have to deal, and should, therefore, be given every consideration. con-sideration. After all, in these modern times, as of days of old, the progres-siveness progres-siveness of a community is measured primarily by its transportation facilities. facili-ties. Good roads saved Verdun and made Rome! |