Jasper County Democrat, Volume 18, Number 103, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 25 March 1916 — POSTING OF GUIDE POSTS AT CROSSROADS [ARTICLE]

POSTING OF GUIDE POSTS AT CROSSROADS

Hoosier State Automobile Association to Observe “Guidepost Week,” When Thousands of Highway Signs Will Be Posted Up.

Indiana is long on ‘days.’* It las its arbor day, fire prevention day, cleanup day and all the others. And now comes a “week” to be added to the catalogue of things we celebrate. It will be an event novel in every detail, and probably the first of the kind ever observed by an American commonwealth. The newcomer in Indiana events is to be styled “(luidepost Week,” with the Hoosier State Automobile association, of which A. G. Lupton of Hartford City is president, as the promoter.

The idea of '‘Guidepost Week" \ originated in the Hoosier Motor club and Spread through the ranks of the ’ Hoosier State Automobile association, composed of :::! motor clubs. The scheme, although still in tentative form, is to set aside a certain! week in the near future that will be devpted to the posting of both “safety first” and "direction” signs at every railroad crossing, dangerous curve and crossroads In Indiana. i The plan is to have the motor clubs, the railroads, interurbah lines, county commissioners and public schools join in the movement to erect a series of metal signs now being made for the purpose. One sign will mark! railroad crossings and dangerous curves. Another will locate the quiet -zones' in the eit les,. and ' a. third sign will take the place of the old-fashioned guide posts that once stood at the crossroads along the state's principal highways. Some roads still have markers, but. the majority of tin- old guideposts have disappeared, leaving the wayfarer to find his direction either by intuition or by guidance from a friendly farmer. The coming of the automobile has made it necessary to mark rural highways with the same accuracy employed in identifying city streets. The automobile is transforming Indiana into one great city, and the days of guessing at directions have

j passed. According to figures given J. out at the office of the secretary of j state there were it 6,915 automobile [ licenses issued iri Indiana in 191 a, land tlie number will be more than 100,000 during the present year. The average cost of these licenses is $6.“5 each, giving the state more than a half million of revenue. With the growing use of the automobile have come a dozen new problems, chief among them being the . improvement road construction, the elimination of dangerous highway curves and railroad crossings, the ( building of retaining walls along the outer edges of hill roads, the posting of all crossroads for tlie guidance of 'travelers,-and a general observance of all the^Jaws and principles of , •'safety first."

"Guidepost week” probably will treat of more subjects than the posting of roads and danger zones. The plans now under consideration by the I loonier State Automobile association call tor town meetings where good roads, “safety first” and many other public questions will be dis- ‘ cussed. These meetings, it is hoped. j will help to bring to ’lndiana a dozen i or more government engineers who! are experts in road building and fa-' miliar with all the problems that j confront dwellers in tin- rural districts. ; L. K. Hoy ken and .1. .1. Tobin, representing the United States department of public roads and rural engineering, have just completed a gen- ; oral road survey of Indiana. Through tie; activities of the Hoosier State. Automobile association, they delivered 2*> lectures in various parts of . Indiana. These men w ere sent here ; to find why Indiana, which spends. n pproxiniately $ in, (Kid, It 00 a year on ' its roade. gets such unsatisfactory results from the money invested. Mr! Boyken’s investigations covered the southern section of Indiana, while Mr. Tobin studied conditions in the . territory north of Indianapolis, Both found that the principal trouble in ; Indiana is lack of continuity. Three 1 miles of good road are followed by I mud for two or three miles, and then comes another stretch of good road. Both men say Indiana’s lirst need is to get together for building continuous highways, and not alternate pavement with - mud.

Both Boy ken and Tobin are ardent advocates of the centralization of all highway work in a state department or roads and in recent addresses beforeAhe Hoosier Motor club said that Indiana was one of the five states yet unprovided with a state road department. ", The other trailers are: South Carolina, Mississippi, Georgia and Texas. .The two engineers praised Indiana for the interest the state takes in the good roads movement. Statistics show that Indiana ranks third among the states with respect to Improved highways. Massachusetts and Rhode" Island have higher percentages of improved roads! Only New York and California spend more money than Indiana on road building. \

‘•We must make allowance for the good Indiana has accomplished in the way of road improvement,” said Mr. Boyken, "but I do want to point out the real defect in your road system —it lacks continuity. Other states with aggressive road departments fix upon a plan for building roads That begin somewhere and end somewhere, not merely sticking in a mile or two here, then some mud, and a mile or two more of improvement One can go to New England, to New York or to Massachusetts, or to Connecticut, and, standing from one side of them go directly to the other without a break in the roadway. They built their roads to start and finish. Having a department of roads made this possible, because no county built haphazardly. “A state department of roads enables a commonwealth to systematize its road building and to keep an exact tab on all expenditures. Under your system men who know practically nothing about road building or engineering are privileged to spend your money as they like, and the result is a poor investment of the money. They may be honest enough in their intentions, but they just don't know how. The establishment of state highway departments began in IS-92, New jersey being the first to recognize the need for one. Then came Massachusetts, and, one/by one, all fell in line with the idea~ until now only Indiana, South Carolina, Texas. Mississippi and Georgia remain to be converted to the new system of road building and maintenance. ~~ ~—- -•■■■ ...

It is to '.rescue Indiana from the mud " that the Hoosier State Automobile association through the 32 clubs affiliated with it hopes to bring Indiana into line with other states in establishing a department ot roads. - The association plans, too, to work for the building of test reads in every county in the state. This is to he accomplished through co-operation with the United States department of roads and rural engineering. On request ot county Commissioners rim government will lend its engineering experts to any county wishing to build an experimental mile of road for test pur--1 otes. This test mile would serve to show the taxpayers the serviceability of different road-building materials. thus making it possible to choose the right material by actual test.

Bartholomew, Lake, Kosciusko, Miami, Parke and Brown counties already have signified their intention to liuild test miles of the materials nearest at hand, and to test the serviceability of concrete, stone, brick and other materials. When the engineers visited Brown county recently th*- vehicle that was sent to Georgetown to meet them stuck in the mud, •he committee had to journey to the station afoot, and then return to Nashville on the celebrated "Abe Martin" hack. The engineers quickly realized Brown county’s need for better roads.

This spring, summer and autumn are going to glotv with the activities o*' tlie Hoosier State Automobile association and its allies. Besides a live better roads” campaign they are going to strike at every evil detrimental to motoring. Speed maniacs will be prosecuted- by every one of tbe clubs in the association. Automobile thieves will be punished for their crimes, and a general campaign ; i to be waged to make life safer l oth for the motorist and the pedes Irian. Secretary Xoblet of the state asso- , ciation. who also is the secretary of the Hoosier Motor club, says that , t he lirst ot*der for “safety first” signs will be for more than .1,000, and ; these will be distributed over the I state. Assurances have been given j by the railroads that during “guidepost week” section crews on all

steam and interurban lines will plaxe the "safety" signs at every point where highways cross railroads. The number of "direction” signs that will be necessary to mark the many crossroads in Indiana has not yet been estimated, but the motor clubs throughout the state making calculations as to how many will he needed in the various counties. The organization of additional motor clubs goes merrily on and it is the prediction of A. G. Lupton of Hartford City, president, that the state association will have a club in every county in Indiana before the end of the year. The organization also plans to urge some effective good roads legislation when the state’s general assembly convenes next year. In the meantime the general effort will be to make ‘guidepost week” one of the biggest movements for public good ever undertaken in Indiana. r . The signs to be posted in Indiana are to be weather-proof, and will bear the joint emblems of the Hoosier Motor club and the Hoosier Stpte Automobile association. They will be artistic in design, bufsufficiently colored to be seen for a long distance. both in the daytime and by motor lights.—W. M. Herschell i t n Indianapolis News.