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Show HIT THE COST TO ME A TON The Cost of Moving a Ton of Weight Depends Upon Road Conditions Cost of Construction Con-struction and Maintenance. Main-tenance. Chairman George C. Dlehl of the rood roads board of the American Automobile association has taken up ihe task of determining just how much cost attaches to the moving of a ton weight over a mile of distance. In his consideration of the subject he lakes up the propositions of cost of road construction, maintenance and other question that enter into the general economies respecting road building. In his deliberations Mr. Dlehl calls attention to the fact that the type of road necessarily enters into ihr- ques tlon respecting the needs of a main artery of communication and that 11 cannot be -eliminated. The chairman's i statement follow s: "In order to arrive at the ton-mile cost," says Mr. Dlehl, "It is essential, first, to have the total cost of construction con-struction 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 COD struction must equal the total outlay made by the highway department, as this is the only method possible to avoid omission of Important Items. The amount of traffic must be obtained ob-tained by traffic census. This should be divided between passenger and commercial vehicles and also between motor-driven and horse-drawn vehicles. vehi-cles. "In New York state, where every five or six miles of improved highway high-way Is under the control of a patrolman, patrol-man, it would be comparatively easy to obatln such traffic census, as the patrolman could have a certain day each month to make a count of these vehicles, at comparatively no expense to the state. He could also report upon the condition of the highway on the day that the traffic census was taken; give the duration of time that the highway was covered with snow and its condition when the snow came and also after it melted in the spring. Ther are many diverse conditions on the C500 miles of state road con- structed in the state of New York. "This traffic census could be taken tak-en monthly in a state like New York, and there could be de eloped the approximate ap-proximate rate of increase, which could be graphically shown In a traffic traf-fic diagram. Likewise, diagrams could be prepared showing the cost : of moving a ton a mile over each of the several types of pavement, and with each of the several kinds of i traffic. At the expiration of a year the statistics obtained would be of I great value, and after a period of threo ! or four years the results would be of incalculable value These figures would develop an economic theory of highway construction whereby the character and amount of traffic and type of highway to be constructed 1 could be determined with a degree I of exactness which is far from possible possi-ble at present. The amount and character of traffic in an undeveloped section could be very largely gauged from the territory where statistics are available. "The statistics thus computed could be compared one county with another, or among tho divisions in a state; or among several states, if they would adopt uniform methods, which would make it possible to determine the effi jciency of the various highway officials, from the smallest to the largest subdivision sub-division Improved methods in a sin-I sin-I gle section could be adopted In all, and the mistakes corrected at the least expense and in the shortest possible pos-sible time It would be merely neces. sary for a division engineer to call upon tho engineer In charge and ask him to explain why the cost was higher than in the adjoining county, and unless a suitable explanation was forthcoming, a new man would be em. ployed in his place. But if there was I an explanation, then the conditions Ispoken of could be controlled by similar sim-ilar methods to those which produced the effieient results in other sections. Likewise, each division engineer could be compelled to maintain a high standard stand-ard or lose his position, and each state could profit from the experience and abilities manifested in other eom-monwealths. eom-monwealths. "Until some such system is adopted, selection of the type of road Is largely large-ly a matter of local sentiment, a guess on the part of tho highway 'officials, or due to aclhlties, credible or otherwise, other-wise, of agents of road building materials. ma-terials. "While traffic censuses have been conducted In a somewhat limited way. it has never been attempted to do the work systematically and completely." com-pletely." oo A German colliery has installed a canteen r,oo feet below ground to save Its miners' time. |