The Importance of preceding paragraphs show that good, cheap roads and convenient terminals are two of the greatest problems in transportation. If roads for heavy motor traffic could be constructed cheaply, and if the crossings, grades and curves permitted high speed without danger, business would receive a wonderful impetus, and the congestion of great cities would be much relieved. Motor vehicles are relatively so cheap that in Iowa, for example, there is one for every five persons and in some counties of Kansas one for every three, although the figure for the whole state is six. Hence, the need of good roads is increasing far faster than the roads are being built. In congested regions the use of motor vehicles is hampered even more than in the country, not only by the great expense of building roads that will stand the traffic, but by the crowding of the streets. Many people believe that some day a great system of broad highways for fast motor traffic will radiate from each city, and all grade crossings of railways will be eliminated. Separate roadways for traffic in each direction and for trucks and lighter traffic are desirable, but are far too expensive except under special circumstances. Such a system of specialized roads, together with abundant good, but less pretentious roads in the suburban and rural districts would probably do more than railroads and trolley cars have done to spread cities over widg areas and permit people to live in separate houses, surrounded by trees, grass, and flowers. In Philadelphia and Chicago, for example, the beginnings of such a system already help to relieve congestion. They permit business to be profitably located at a distance from the railroads and the main centers, and allow people to live in the country and yet get easily to their work. Thus rents are reduced, people's health is improved, and children grow up better and stronger than in the present• congested cities.
The Cost of Good Roads and the Problem of Trucks.—Fig. 33 shows the percentage of improved roads in each of the states. The I percentages range all the way from less than 1 per cent in Oklahoma to nearly 50 per cent in Massachusetts. But " improved " does not mean " good." Many an improved road has merely received a top coating of gravel, or is a cheap macadam full of holes and in dry weather worse than a good dirt road. Yet in the entire United States only 12 per cent of the 2,500,000 miles of road are improved even to this extent, while not one per cent are really good. The main reason why good roads are still scarce is their cost. Even with our present poor roads the total annual expense of making and maintaining the roads in the United States is about $300,000,000, which amounts to $10 per mile and $3 per inhabitant. In states like Massachusetts and California this rises to $30 per mile. Yet even in those states the motorist is greatly hampered by the absence of made roads in many sections, the narrowness of many roads that are otherwise excellent, and above all the appalling rapidity with which good roads are pounded to pieces by heavy trucks. For example, near Boston a road leading to the summer resorts on the South Shore is sometimes traversed by 1200 automobiles an hour for twelve hours at a stretch; that is, an average of 20 a minute and a maximum of something like 40 a minute. But that road is only 40 feet wide, and the expense of widening it prevents this much needed improvement. Again, between New York and Philadelphia there is perhaps the heaviest motor truck traffic in the world. All day and especially all night when the roads are relatively
free from other traffic, huge trucks rumble and jolt. They hammer the roads to pieces so rapidly that some parts of the route are almost always very rough while several detours are usually necessary where repairs are in progress. In spite of the bad roads the truck traffic of the United States is rapidly increasing. In 1920, the motor freight traffic amounted to something like two million ton-miles.
The cost of good roads is so enormous that many people are in despair. Suppose such a state as Ohio were to treat half of its 116,000 miles of road as the 28,700 miles of road for which the Federal Govern ment was supplying aid at the beginning of 1922 were being treated. This would be enough, for it is estimated that 20 per cent of the total mileage of all highways outside of cities carries 90 per cent of the traffic. The number of miles of various kinds and the cost would be approx imately as follows: If 15 per cent be allowed for interest, sinking fund, upkeep, and replace ment, the annual cost would be $150,000,000, which is $26 per person, or over $200 per automobile owned in the state, or six times what was spent on rural roads in Ohio in 1921. A billion for one state is enormous, but an equal sum has been invested in Ohio in privately owned railroads and trolley lines. If the whole United States should be covered with a network of good roads, such as is suggested above for Ohio, the total investment would be about 24 billion dollars, while the present invest ment in railroads is about 20 billion and in trolley lines 5 billion. By far the most damage to roads is clone by heavy trucks, and these create the most difficult feature of the problem. It is estimated that the daily cost of operating an average freight truck, including drivers, repairs, tires, gasoline, and oil is about $25 or $30 per (lay. Experiments indi cate that the operating cost per mile on a hard smooth pavement is approximately one-half of the cost on an ordinary earth road. If each of the 100,000 trucks in Ohio saved $3 per day for 250 clays per year by having such a system of roads, this would amount to $75,000,000. If each of the 500,000 automobiles save $50 per year in time, repairs, gasoline, and oil, it would make another $25,000,000, leaving $50,000,000 or $10 per person to be saved otherwise. How great the savings would really be, and how far it would pay to spend so much on roads is still uncertain. Nor is it yet possible to make reliable estimates as to how much the community would save in (1) the relief to the congestion of cities, (2) the gain to the farmers in taking their produce to market, their children to more centralized and hence better schools, and their whole families to the social gatherings whose rarity has hitherto been one of the great disadvantages of farm life; and (3) the gain of the man ufacturers who could find cheap sites where coal and raw materials could be procured as cheaply as in the cities, and where their workmen could have country homes and gardens. The building of such roads will take decades, but a good start has been made. The work will be hastened if cheaper methods of building durable roads are invented. Good roads will not completely solve the transportation problem, for the cost of motor vehicles, the diminution of the supply of gasoline, and many other factors enter into the matter. Nevertheless good roads are among the greatest influences in promoting prosperity, in creating business, and in advancing civilization.