| Show the relation of the press to utah s state road program BY HON HENRY H BLOOD member utah state road commission 11 la common with other states of 01 the union utah has undertaken an ambitious road building program the ultimate purpose is for the government the state and the counties to construct a connected system of improved highways that will reach every important center and that will provide the maximum of local service as well as form interstate and trunk lines of highways the interstate roads are re to form connections at state lines line with similar highways being constructed ted in adjoining states in this stupendous undertaking the federal government has enlisted the services vices of the best engineering skill in the country every phase of road building is being made the subject of scientific study and roads constructed today are far superior to those laid a few years ago congress has been liberal in in its appropriations it is not quite seven years since the fed system was inaugurated and la in that time the congress has appropriated or authorized appropriations totaling about half of this sum has been paid out for work accomplished the balance is either available for payment for work now in or will become as new projects rejects are initiated during the fiscal years 1923 1924 and 1925 government participation the plan under which this vast road fund is to be expended is one of cooperation between the federal government and the states that is to say it is basically a 50 50 proposition the states to furnish half the total cost of the roads and the government the other half however in the public land states an allowance is made for unga tented lands which of course are owned by the government for its ownership of these lands the government pays to the states additional sums to be applied on road building costs in proportion to the amount of public lands within the several states utah Is one of the large public land states and this state receives from the gov eminent per cent of the total cost of federal aid roads as the public pub lie land proportion of the cost this is in effect a special road tax paid on government lands and it is turned over to the state and applied as part of the states 50 per cent of road costs this per cent added to the governments 50 per cent brings the total government percentage to and reduces the states percentage to on only ay one other state in the union gets a larger percentage of help from the federal government and that is nevada where the proportion of to patented lands is larger that state receives federal aid to the total percentage of since the exhaustion of the state road bond funds the counties have been called upon to supply the amount necessary to match federal aid allotments engineering costs the generous help given by the government has made necessary calling into existence thoroughly organized road departments in all of the states the federal aid plan demands that this organization shall be efficient and well equipped to handle the immense volume of work incident to the economical expenditure of state and federal funds the result is that in utah as in other states the effort has been to secure skilled men specialists in road building work which has come to be recognized as a separate parate te and very important branch of engineer engi engineering neen considering the comparatively ively short V ort time since scientific road construction was commenced there has been wonderful progress and each year finds new and improved methods applied to this work one has but to compare recent construction with work done five six or seven years ago to be convinced that the outlay for engineering investigation and supervision has been a profitable investment in this connection it might be well to say gay that perhaps the agitation which in the past has been aimed against engineering costs of highway construction has not always beon timely or deserved it is not meant by this that perfection has been attained or that in the past there havo havn not been mistakes on the contrary errors have crept into t the he work and costs may at times ha have ve be been ex excessive ces as a result what is meant is is that all of this has been incident to the development of the science of road construction no big thing has ever been brought about without costly experimentation and in road building it will doubtless be found on investigation vesti gation that such mistakes as have been made have been made guideposts guide posts to better work in the future so far as utah is e concerned the effort has been to secure the services of the be best A men in every department and engineering costs as well as other items entering into the work are subjected to the closest and most constant scrutiny if it seems to those who are observers from outside of the organization that engineering costs should be cut it is well to remember that the federal but bureau eau of coads demands high efficiency in that department and no plans are approved until the requisite deen done inasmuch as the government is paying about three fourths of the costs and bearing in mind that it has established construction standards that have to be at attained tai tied it will need no argument to show that the state road commission must maintain its engineering department as a highly efficient organization it is economy to do so 0 use of federal funds it is felt that in some quarters there is a misunderstanding as to the use to be made of federal funds allotted to utah from statements that occasionally are made it would seem that the idea is prevalent that certain definite portions of the funds belong to certain counties or sections of the state this is a mistake the federal funds are allotted to the state as s a whole and they are to be expended under the direction of the state sta te road od commission in cooperation with wit h this th federal bureau of roads io in licali ties and inroads on roads where they will do most in furthering the general plans of the government which looks to the building of improved highways for general use us the state road commission makes no allocation of funds to counties or localities as such but initiates projects in conformity with the general scheme the commission comm assion as at present organized makes no division of the state but attempts to administer its affairs with due regard for the interests of all concerned federal aid roads utah has a total road mileage of miles of this total are state roads the balance corning coming under the head of county roads the federal law approved nov 9 1921 limits government aid to 7 per cent of the total road mileage or 1684 miles this mileage is divided into primary and secondary roads the primary to be interstate highways and the secondary roads with no difference in i n the construction standards on the two classes of roads it will thus be seen that federal aid can be applied on only about half the total state road mileage the fed total 1 otal expended year tear total expended total T expended for r construction 1909 1912 1 not for maintenance for to r construction and aai id maintenance Maint nanee 1913 1914 as not segregated 1915 segregated 1916 1917 1918 1919 1920 1921 1922 03 totals tota ils types of road utah has constructed a very extensive mileage of hard surfaced roads and the demand for a continuation of this policy p alicy has ha s in some sections been quite insistent it has been found however that the allotment ol of federal funds is so limited as to make it impossible to meet all of the requirements for this expensive type data on proposed propose d 7 system sy stem as of december e t 20 1922 federal mue miles total 7 percent per cent 0 of f highway Hiff hwa f miles miles lower sil mileage leave mileage system paved bacad macadam am a types type colorado 72 1944 idaho 2814 2772 52 1587 montana Alon tana f 26 ii 11 nevada 1540 1520 34 new mexico 25 utah urah 1684 1655 wyoming 16 1590 while there is no doubt that hard surfaced roads are desirable and even necessary where a density of traffic warrants that type of construction it is believed that the greatest economy will result from the construction of standard gravel surfaced roads in districts and localities where the traffic is not so BO great in general it may be said that four miles of gravel surfaced highways can be built under government specifications for the same cost as one mile of the best type of hard surfaced highway assuming that concrete highway will cost per mile and the gravel surfaced highway per mile inclusive of drainage and structures in each instance in and assuming further that money for road construction can be had at 69 6 D it will be seen that the spent on each mile of the hard surfaced road in excess of the cost of the gravel surfaced highway calls for an interest expenditure annually of 1125 if we assume that the annual maintenance cost of a gravel surfaced road is per mile mila and that of a hard surfaced road per mile there would be a saving in favor of the hard surfaced road of per mile per year which would leave a net excess cost to the public of 1000 per mile per year for the hard surfaced highway so far as experience has shown in this state and it must be admitted that we have not had either type of road in use long enough to reach definite conclusions it would appear that a well constructed gravel surfaced road where the patrol system of maintenance is is in in operation will stand up under ordinary traffic in a very satisfactory is manner in a state such as utah with extensive outlying districts where roads are urgently urgent ay needed it would seem to be a correct policy to build a greater mileage of gravel surfaced roads rather than a curtailed curtail ad mileage of hard surfaced highways in order to reach more of the peaple evelt E defy time a mile of hard sur surfaced facea road is laid it means that somewhere in the state there are three miles of unimproved road that with the same expenditure might have been brought up to standard as to drainage grading and surfacing if the gravel surfaced type had been adopted it does not necessarily follow that the districts which are given standard gravel surfaced roads are to be forever barred arm m the benefits of the higher type of construction As a matter of fact the two stage method of construction is recognized as being economical and in general advisable by two stage construction is meant the building a road provided with proper drainage and structures as a first sta stage ge this road to be used until such time as traffic conditions d demand a hard surfaced highway when that time arrives the structures and drainage the grading and gravel base can all be used with little or no loss in the construction of the higher type of road this plan of road building is being followed in some of the most progressive states of the union even where funds are more abundant than they hey are in utah moreover this is in in line with what we see in railroad building for instance when the denver rio kio grande railroad was built into utah it was a narrow gauge line using light rails and small and cheap equipment As business was developed and income increased it was wa changed from the lower type to the higher tipe of railroad construction w with ith heavier rails standard gauge and with standal atan daid d equipment how ral oral bureau of roads has just recently approved the states designation of 1430 miles mile on the 7 per cent system these roads traverse the most populous sections of the state and when improved will serve counties having about 95 per cent of the population tio n up to the present time about 22 per cent of the primary and secondary systems has been constructed under standard specifications in addition to this there are now under construction 80 miles of gravel surfaced roads and miles of concrete paving and eight bridges with a total cost of the 1923 program includes miles of graveled roads and 19 miles of hard surfaced pavement in addition to the mileage now under construction the cost of the graveled roads will be about 0 and of the hard surfaced roads projects proposed for construction in 1924 and 1926 1925 will involve the expenditure of As a matter of general information inform atio n the following tabulation of road expenditures tures is given covering the period since the organization of the state road commission in 1909 of highway it might be interesting to indicate what other states are doing in this respect A c consideration of comparative road mileage will show that in utah the policy of building hard surfaced highways has been b celt carried further than in any other intermountain state the following tabulation will prove of int interest crest in this connection many years it would have been before coal fields in carbon county would have been opened up had the promoters insisted on the increased expenditure that would have been necessary to have laid and equipped a standard gauge road at first is a matter of conjecture but it is safe to say bay that by using the two stage construction in this one railroad venture the coal industry of utah was developed many years earlier than otherwise would have been possible the single track railroad is considered bider e d the proper thing until the traffic f ic becomes of such density that double tracking is justified when the additional expenditure is made applying this same reasoning to the road building program in in utah it would seem that the policy proposed tefie by Y I 1 tha he state road commission is justified U d by the traffic conditions that exist this does do e a not mean that no further hard surfaced road will be laid in state it will be necessary and desirable to complete links in the chain of hard surfaced highways notably the one between payson and the juab county line and at the Ri verdale crossing there may be other sections where the traffic demands the higher type of road but in general it is felt that conditions in the state demand that greater road mileage be constructed with the somewhat limited amount of federal aid funds available at this time leaving to the future the second stage of the construction the hard surfaced road the wendover highway no talk on roads in utah would be complete without some mention being made of the wendover road which has just recently been approved for federal aid by the hon henry C wallace secretary of agriculture after one of the most bitter fights that has been staged anywhere in the union on the question of road location the lne present state road commission came into the controversy when its me members were suddenly taken from the ith e peaceful paths of private pursuits and drafted into the service of the state about a year ago it was found that previous state administrations and road commissions had adopted the wendover route as the best western connection for a federal highway nevada indicated its willingness to join at wendover with the road to be constructed ted by the state of utah with federal aid competent engineers representing the federal bureau of roads as well as engineers of the state road commission passed upon the two routes in question and so far as the records indicate unanimously or wendover route the federal bureau demanded a western outlet to the coast and insisted upon a portion of the federal aid funds allotted to utah being set apart for the construction of this highway it was felt that it would be necessary to give preference to projects which would expedite the completion of an adequate system of interstate highways As matters stood prior to this time there were two north and south highways through a great part of the state and connections were made on the east boundary line with colorado and wyoming but there was no connecting federal highway running west from salt lake city it was deemed imperative for very good governmental reasons that such a highway be |
