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Show 1 - - BASIS FOR ROAD SELECTION Pik Should Carry Traffic at Cheaply aa Possible Expensive Highway High-way Often Cheapest. Wlicii n city or county or fttSte decides de-cides ilmt It In time to build new muds It I not the imtount of money In the tri'iivury ntiil the mileage thiit simuiii determine the type of road, tut the Hinoiint It will cost to move a ton a mile over the road. That Is the fundamental basis on which rond construction planning nm t bo founded, according to (Jeorge Q Dicht) chairman of the good roads SOftfd of thi American Automobile association, as-sociation, lie fatbits out that It Is the function of a road to carry tralllc and thai it should do so aa cheaply as possible. "Cheaply" does not mean In the cost of bulldlni: ami maintaining the road, but the relation of the total expense to the total vehicle tonnage enrned, which Is the NOd cost to carry a ton a mile, or the ton-mile cost. "In order to arrive at the ton-mile cost," says Diehl, "II la essential, first, to have the total cost of construction and maintenance; next, to have the amount of traffic tonnage. The first cost must be the result of a properly kept system of records, and the total cost of maintenance and construction eV 3oHeaJ jEt SMS vT .. asijfci jPC ti Roadbed Blasted Out of Rock. must cuul the total outlay made by the highway department, as this Is the only method possible to avoid omission omis-sion of Important Items. "The amount of traffic must be obtained ob-tained by tralllc census. This should be divided between passenger and commercial vehicles and alao between motor-driven and hrose-drawn vehicles. "Ill New York state, where every five or six miles of Improved highway Is under the control of a patrolman, It would I mparntlvcly easy to obtain such traffic cenraa, u the patrolman could huve a certain day each month to make a count of these vehicles, at comparatively no eNpeii.sc to the state. |