Jasper County Democrat, Volume 21, Number 103, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 26 March 1919 — THE HIGHWAYS OF TOMORROW [ARTICLE]

THE HIGHWAYS OF TOMORROW

Great Interest in Good Roads Is Aroused by Needs of War. One hundred and ten millions of dollars to be spent on permanent roads in five years—such is the alottment made by the states of Illinois and Pennsylvania in the recent elections, with similiar sums likely to be voted soon by ifaany of their sister states. Sixty 'millions was Illinois’ share, to be paid entirely by automobile and motor truck owners during the next twenty years without resorting to general taxation. This is just one indication erf the great interest in good roads aroused by the transportation meeds during the great war just past. People are now awakening to the fact that the best investment they can make is in the construction of good roads, -permanent roads, and roads wide enough to permit two automobiles or trucks to pass in safety. Along with this tremendous increase in popularity of good roads has come the development of new and better types of pavement, each singularly adapted to the varying needs of heavy and light city and country traffic. At Detroit, Mich., a new type of .pavement particularly adapted for the use of automobiles has been developed. It is called “rubber stone,” land is a crushed limestone varying in size from one-half inch down to dust, impregnated with deliquesent or moisture-collecting and retaining chemicals. It is placed loose on the road to a thickness of 5 /Inches, and rolled to a smooth, compact surface —elastic, dustless, noiseless and weedless* and easy to take up and replace when it is necessary to get at pipes or wires beneath the pavement. , With the adoption; of efficient methods of construction and maintenance for all the roads soon to be built by the various states, and also for those built by the large federal appropriation for interstate

roads under the federal aid act, our iroads of tomorrow should be of maximum value to every one. They will be built much wider and stronger than many we have now. and of the most durable materials, for they will have to bear a greatly increased motor truck traffic if the growth in use of such trucks in the last few years Is any criterion. — Popular Mechanics.