| OCR Text |
Show Improved Highways Soon Repay Original Cost A good road Is such a paying investment in-vestment that It Is the poorest kind of business Judgment to do without It, according to the bureau of public roads of the United States Department of Agriculture. The bureau produces figures based upon a survey of traffic In Connecticut to prove Its contention. Aa actual count of the traffic on the Boston post road showed that the average weight of vehicles nnd commodities com-modities passing over tbe road In nine hours each day was 1,140 tons. Adding Add-ing one-third as a conservative estimate esti-mate for the full day Increases the weight to 1,50 gross tons dally. Experiments made at the Iowa experiment ex-periment station show that with gasoline gaso-line at 24 cents a gallon the cost of moving this tonnage over a dirt road would have been $2d.4l a mile, assuming assum-ing the Impossible, that such tralilc could be carried over a dirt road. The cost of fuel for moving the same tonnage over a paved road would be $11.70, a difference of $14.74 u day. On the basis of 200 days a year, the actual saving l;i fuel alone for moving this tonnage would be $t,4'J2. If the paved highway costs $10,000 a mile, the average interest at 5 per cent would be lfl.000 a year, which, deducted de-ducted from the saving on fuel, would leave a balance which would retire the cost of the road In les than twelve years. This calculation does not taUcj Into account other savings in the cost of operat'ng commercial vehicles or value of the heavy movement of passenger vehicles. In less developed rural sections the value of the gasoline saved Is reduced In proportion to the lighter travel, but the cost of the roads Is corr spondlng'y reduced, ami there Is no dor.bt that an analysis and comparison compari-son of the highway costs and the vehicle ve-hicle operating cost In any particular ci:sc will demonstrate the economy of Improvement wherever the tralilc Is ulUclent to call for any Improvement ut all. |
