Road Construction in America.

Progress, Volume XVI, Issue 2, 1 October 1920, Page 39

Road Construction in America.

It is interesting to note how the concrete road in America has developed alongside the increasing use of the motor-driven vehicle. This point is best illustrated by the following figures:— At the close of the vear iQcg there were six miles of concrete road in all the United States. At the end of iQig there were over 11,000 miles of concrete road. During the same period the automobile tratnc had increased from 127,731 cars to 8,000,000.

Motor cars demand a smooth rigid road. This was not the case when the horse was the motive power. Horse-drawn travel compacts dirt and gravel roads, while motor traffic disrupts these same roads. The cost of driving intricate and expensive motor vehicles is correspondingly more expensive on poor roads.

The farmer, who, in the United States, was at first strongly opposed to motor-driven vehicles, soon discovered they were valuable aids to him in his work, and thus the rural communities began to demand concrete roads, and farmers are consistent supporters of this type of road.

As is well known, the State of California builds her roads almost exclusively of concrete. In this State alone 2,500 miles of roads are made of concrete. In the case of the " Ridge Route," a Californian concrete highway, covering a stretch of 30 miles and costing about 1,200,000 dollars, it has been estimated that with the heavy traffic passing over this road the total cost of building would be absorbed in less than 200 days by the saving in gasoline, tyres and upkeep on the vehicles passing over it.