featuring developments in federal highway policies, programs, and research and technology |
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Vol.
I, No. 1 - The First Issue of Public Roads, May 1918
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Many stretches of road were like this before being resurfaced with concrete. (Photo by Concrete Highway Magazine) |
Salutatory
On page 3, OPRRE Director Logan Waller Page welcomed readers to Public Roads.
"With this issue of Public Roads the Office of Public Roads and Rural Engineering
inaugurates the publication of a periodical devoted to better highways in the
states of the Union and dedicated to those, both in official and private life,
who are concerned in developing means of better rural communication, in facilitating
the marketing of the crops of the nation, and in aiding in the solution of the
daily more perplexing traffic problem."
Page, who served as director from 1905 until his death in December 1918, was
a scientist, and he had a prickly personality that left him impatient with those
who approached road-building from a nonscientific perspective. The magazine,
he said, would encourage "a standardization of effort in road construction
and maintenance" and foster "the desire to advance to as near perfection
as possible the science of road-building." These were favorite themes for
Page, as if road construction could be standardized like Henry Ford's assembly
line to produce a uniform product. In short, he wanted engineers to take over
road-building from the farmers and county officials who had built roads by tradition
not knowledge.
The magazine, he added, would promote "a manful disposition to give and
take constructive criticism." But those who knew Page understood that he
meant to dish out the criticism. He didn't care to receive any.
The Office Roll of
Honor
On page 4, Public Roads listed all OPRRE employees who were in military service.
The introduction noted that a service flag on the front of the OPRRE building
was decorated with 52 stars, one for each employee who had entered the service,
and every one "offered his life to his country. Not one was called in the
draft."
The 52 included some who were well known in their time, such as senior highway
engineer Charles H. Moorefield, one of OPRRE's pavement experts, and many who
would make their mark in later years. "H.S. Fairbank," a highway engineer,
was listed as a first lieutenant in the Ordnance Corps and based in Edgewood,
Md. Fairbank, who became the father of highway planning in the 1930s, would
establish the philosophical and statistical underpinnings for the Interstate
Highway System before he retired in the 1950s. He is honored in the name of
FHWA's research facility, the Turner-Fairbank Highway Research Center, formerly
known as the Fairbank Research Station.
5 Million Motor Cars
As if to say, "Here's the problem," Public Roads' first article was
titled, "Five Million Motor Cars on Roads of the United States." The
article by highway engineer Andrew F. Anderson reported that 4,983,340 motor
cars, including commercial vehicles, and 257,522 motorcycles were registered
in 1917. In fact, the United States had an estimated 85 percent of the world's
motor cars.
The registration leaders among the states were: Ohio (346,772 automobiles),
Illinois (340,292 automobiles), New York (338,682 automobiles), California (306,916
automobiles), and Pennsylvania (306,001 automobiles). At the bottom of the rankings,
Nevada had only 6,885 registered automobiles in 1917.
The United States' total represented a 44-percent increase over 1916, an increase
that was approximately the same as in each of the previous five years.
"There is as yet no indication that ... the curve for motor cars ... is
approaching a maximum or has even reached the saturation point." In that
simple statement, Mr. Anderson identified the problem no highway engineer, no
highway planner, no transit advocate, no visionary in the 20th century would
solve - namely, how to stop the growth in automobile usage long enough for our
transportation network to catch up. Whether the saturation point will be reached
in the 21st century remains to be seen.
Motor vehicle registration fees totaled $37.5 million. Nearly 93 percent of
this amount was applied directly to the improvement or maintenance of the public
roads in 47 states. Much of the revenue was under the direct control of the
state highway departments, reflecting a growing trend in road financing.
A caravan of trucks from Detroit are headed for eastern seaports and the war. (Photo by U.S. War Deparment) |
Clearing Roads for Army Transport
When the war began, railroads
were the dominant mode of interstate transportation in the United States. Trucking
was primarily a local service, unable to transport goods efficiently over the
poor interstate roads of the day. Even trucks bound for the American Expeditionary
Force in France had to be carried by rail to Atlantic ports.
With the railroads jammed beyond capacity, OPRRE joined with the U.S. Army,
the Ohio Highway Department, and the Lincoln Highway Association to see if the
trucks could be driven from assembly plants in Toledo and Akron to the coast,
thus freeing railroad cars for other uses. The first truck convoy left Toledo
in December 1917 during one of the most severe winters in recent years. The
trip, mainly on the Lincoln Highway, took three weeks, but 29 of the 30 trucks
reached the port of Baltimore on Jan. 3, 1918.
The unsung heroes of the story were the men and mules of the Pennsylvania Highway
Department's (PHD) maintenance crews. They kept the convoy moving across the
mountainous terrain of western Pennsylvania (basically on the road that became
U.S. 30 from Pittsburgh to Gettysburg). In "Clearing Roads for Army Transport,"
PHD Deputy Commissioner George H. Biles explained how his forces mobilized for
the challenge by assembling seven motor trucks and plows, 22 road machines,
20 drags, 105 teams (mules), three tractors, and 200 men.
First, Biles explained, an elaborate network was established to convey information
from the Weather Bureau in Pittsburgh to crews along the road. Crews and equipment
were stationed in the larger towns, but a patrol system of 34 men traveled the
road continuously to monitor conditions and make immediate repairs. Information
was conveyed throughout the network by telephone and telegraph.
The first blizzard began on Dec. 7, leaving drifts averaging one to two meters
in depth over the entire route. Workers sprang into action, using teams and
drags to break a track through the drifts.
"This was followed by road machines, or trucks, with the plow attachments,
and shovelers. Turnouts were made along the line, and thereafter, the road was
widened out to a width of between 14 to 16 feet [four to five meters], depending
upon the location."
At times, crews had to work day and night shifts to keep the roads passable.
But, as Biles noted, "After the organization had been perfected, each succeeding
storm was handled with increased celerity and efficiency."
With the success of this main military truck route, others were designated in
Maryland, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and West Virginia to accommodate the
demand. Eventually, 30,000 trucks would travel by road to the coast, each loaded
with three tons or more of spare parts and munitions. The convoys freed 17,250
railroad cars for other duty, but took a terrible toll on the roads.
Maintenance Is Rhode
Island's Big Problem
The heart of the first issue of Public Roads was a series of articles about
road construction in the states. First up, Rhode Island.
Chief Engineer Irwin W. Patterson of Rhode Island's State Board of Public Roads
wrote that the state paid the entire cost of building and maintaining roads
on the state system of main roads. Construction funds came from bond issues,
while motor vehicle registration fees paid for the maintenance of state roads.
The main problem was that "the financing of maintenance and reconstruction
has not kept pace with the financing of new construction and in consequence
we are confronted by the fact that a great many of our earlier built roads are
not in condition adequately to withstand the travel passing over them today."
Rhode Island had built pavement
surfaces of water-bound macadam, bituminous macadam, and bituminous concrete.
Water-bound macadam had been used exclusively at first, but this technique was
abandoned after 1913, primarily because "of the absence of good road-building
stone in many sections" of the state. "Until motor travel became heavy,
much of the road built of this inferior rock gave very good satisfaction, but
of late years the task of maintaining these roads is almost hopeless."
Between 1906 and 1913, the state board had used bituminous concrete on 50 kilometers
of state road. The board's experiments with different mixes and material "occasionally
proved of little value and were the direct cause of failure in several instances."
Overall, however, these roads were "still taking care of the travel which
passes over them in a very satisfactory manner."
In closing, Patterson reported that the method of appropriating road funds in
Rhode Island was unsatisfactory. The state legislature generally appropriated
funds in April or May each year, imposing a hardship on the board "by seriously
limiting the time available for preliminary work." (Because of similar
uncertainty under the federal-aid highway program, Congress provided "contract
authority" in the Post Office Appropriations Act for 1923, approved June
19, 1922. This enabled the state highway agencies to advance multiyear federal-aid
projects with the knowledge that the full sum authorized in multiyear bills
could be obligated before an annual appropriations act was approved. Contract
authority remains a key element in the federal-aid highway program today.)
Status of Highway
Work in Wisconsin
The next article was by Arthur R. Hirst, Wisconsin's state highway engineer.
(Later in 1918, Hirst would become the fourth president of AASHO.) Hirst described
the progress of highway development in Wisconsin.
Motorists crest Thompson Pass on the Valdez-Fairbanks Road in Alaska. (Photo by Alaska Road Commission) |
As in other states, Wisconsin
focused on the selection and improvement of a state trunk highway system. Under
state law, the system could not exceed 5,000 miles (8,000 kilometers) and must
connect all county seats and cities with a population of 5,000 or more. All
construction with state and federal-aid funding was limited to the trunk highway
system, but the county in which construction was done was required to provide
an amount equal to one-half of the sum of the joint state and federal allotments
(i.e., each level of government would pay one-third of the total cost). The
state's share would come from automobile license fees.
In selecting projects, Wisconsin gave priority to "the worst portions of
important roads where there is but little prospect of securing the improvement
through local initiative." In this way, projects totaling 325 miles (523
kilometers) were underway or planned at a cost of $2 million. Most of the mileage
would retain earth surfaces, but projects included gravel (for 112 kilometers),
stone macadam (32 kilometers), and concrete or brick pavements (72 kilometers).
Hirst also discussed Wisconsin's pioneering work in marking the state's trunk
highway system. Because highway numbering and marking are so common today, Hirst's
description of the state law may seem less remarkable than it was in 1918. The
highways would be numbered with the same numbers shown on state maps and on
standardized signs placed along the trunk highways. The state's triangular "State
Trunk Highway" signs and numbering plan were models for other states and
for the federal and state highway officials who created the U.S. highway numbering
plan in 1925.
Roads Pierce Alaskan
Wilderness
By contrast, consider the task facing the Board of Road Commissioners for Alaska,
a body authorized by the U.S. Congress in 1905 and made up of three Army officials.
Capt. W.H. Baugh, president of the board, summarized the problem, using politically
correct terms for the time and not mentioning the native population:
"There presented itself a great wilderness (ten times the area of the state
of Wisconsin) untracked for the most part by the foot of the white man, broken
and rugged in many parts, heavily timbered and with a dense undergrowth in the
coastal belt, underlaid throughout most of the valleys of the interior with
permanent frost to a great depth protected by a thick blanket of moss, with
the whole area buried under snow for many months of the year, and in summer
intersected by numerous deep, swift, and changing streams fed by melting glaciers
and snows of the mountain."
When the board began its work, the territory had less than a dozen miles of
wagon road, plus a few hundred miles of pioneer trails, mostly constructed by
the War Department. However, under the presidency of Gen. W.P. Richardson from
1905 to December 1917, the board constructed 980 miles (1,577 kilometers) of
wagon road, 623 miles (1,002 kilometers) of sled road, and 2,291 miles (3,687
kilometers) of trail at a cost of $3.9 million, of which the federal share was
$2.3 million.
Michigan Touches High
Point in Construction
Another legend in the highway field, State Highway Commissioner Frank F. Rogers,
reported on the status of highway construction in Michigan. Rogers laid out
Michigan's original state highway network, was a founding member of AASHO in
December 1914, and would serve a year as its president (1924-25). In 1925, as
a member of the Joint Board on Interstate Highways, which created the U.S. numbered
system, Rogers doodled the initial sketch of what would be adopted as the U.S.
numbered shield.
Rogers traced the history of modern road development in Michigan beginning with
the state reward law that went into effect on July 1, 1905. The law created
the state highway department to pay rewards of $250 to $1,000 per mile to local
governments that improved roads to state specifications. The amount varied depending
on the road's surface (from dirt to types of pavement) and width.
Marquette-Negaunee Road in Marquette County, Mich., was called Lovers' Lane. This road is water-bound, trap-rock macadam with limestone binder, bituminous surface treated. (Photo by Better Roads and Streets) |
The 1913 trunk-line highway
act authorized a 5,000-mile state trunk system. In addition, the law provided
that the state would build all bridges of more than 30-feet (9-meter) clear
span on the trunk lines, provided local authorities built three or more miles
(five or more kilometers) of road, including approaches. In all, the state constructed
76 bridges and repaired 14 structures at a cost of $562,830.45.
Under the state reward law, Michigan had enjoyed its most productive year of
road-building in the fiscal year ending June 30, 1917. More than 1,050 miles
(1,700 kilometers) of road was built with the state rewards totaling $1,241,306.
Although Rogers knew that the progress would be slower in 1918 because of wartime
conditions, he reported that with the addition of federal-aid funds, "it
is expected that a few more years will see these main roads practically completed."
South Carolina Will
Continue Construction
South Carolina was one of the states that did not have a state highway commission
when the Federal Aid Road Act of 1916 was signed. The fact that 15 states had
either no state highway authority or a weak one troubled Page because he knew
that in the absence of state involvement, funds were squandered by local officials
who knew nothing about scientific road-building. The 1916 act, therefore, provided
that federal-aid could be provided only to states that had a state highway authority
capable of carrying out the provisions of the new program. This requirement
prompted states that could not meet the statutory requirement to establish state
highway commissions or to strengthen existing commissions in order to receive
federal-aid.
In February 1917, the State Highway Commission was created to direct the highway
department, which consisted of an engineering division and an automobile licensing
and registration division. The state retained 20 percent of licensing and registration
fees, and 80 percent was returned to the counties from which they were collected
for road and bridge projects.
C.O. Hearon, a member of the State Highway Commission, gave credit to OPRRE
for helping the state establish the engineering division, including the preparation
of needed forms and blanks, specifications, and standards for road and bridge
construction. He stated that the work of the commission was hampered by the
absence of 13 commission members who were "now serving their country in
the present crisis."
The first task of the department was to identify a system of state roads that
would "facilitate communication between the important market centers and
various county seats, and at the same time afford through lines of communication
between adjoining states." Previously, little work had been accomplished
on the main roads, except "by a few counties with bond issues or special
taxes, each working according to its own plans without respect in most cases
to a connected state system."
The state would work with the counties to build the system with the help of
federal aid. However, a major concern for the state was that several large bridges
would have to be constructed over the state's main rivers. The counties could
not afford to pay for the bridges. The State Highway Commission, therefore,
had requested legislation that would direct 50 percent of the automobile license
fees to a state bridge fund for construction of these bridges under state supervision.
Eighteen Months of
Federal Aid
Public Roads continued with a one-page summary of the progress of federal-aid
projects and a seven-page table listing every federal-aid project submitted
as of March 1, 1918. "A total of 383 project statements [were] submitted,
of which 265 have been approved, 6 disapproved, 3 canceled, and 4 withdrawn.
Plans, specifications, and estimates have been approved [for] 86 [projects].
The total mileage covered by these projects was 4,453.66 miles [7,167.28 kilometers],
and the total estimated cost [was] $28,164,672.77, of which the states asked
the federal government to assume the payment of $11,129,815.69."
The following states were listed as leaders in the federal-aid program:
One point the summary did
not make is that few projects had actually been constructed by March 1918. Several
factors were at work. Some projects, including three of California's first five
projects, had been disapproved. The war made the construction stage of any road
project a logistic nightmare partly because the shipment of material by railroad
was nearly impossible. New state highway agencies and agencies with new powers
to carry out the federal-aid program were not yet ready for the work.
The seven pages of project listings also show that in this era, the states were
pursuing a variety of pavement surfaces to satisfy the 1916 act's requirement
that projects "be substantial in character." Although many proposals
involved concrete or bituminous asphalt, more involved such surfaces as brick,
chert, earth, gravel, macadam, sand-clay, topsoil, cementitious gravel, graded
and drained earth, and stone bottom with gravel top, all of which would eventually
be found inadequate for the automobile travel that would use the roads.
Federal-Aid Projects
Coverage of federal-aid projects continued in Public Roads with a series of
short articles about activities in Idaho, Iowa, Michigan, Nebraska, Ohio, South
Carolina, and Vermont.
Federal-Aid Act Interpretations
Following enactment of the Federal Aid Road Act of 1916, Logan Page had worked
with the Agriculture Department's solicitor to draft tentative regulations for
the new program. Page then invited state highway officials to Washington to
review the draft. On Aug. 16, 1916, AASHO members representing 35 states met
with Page, and AASHO President Henry G. Shirley provided AASHO's comments for
discussion.
The regulation was completed and released on Sept. 1, with most of AASHO's suggestions
adopted, but even with AASHO cooperation in the preparation of the regulation,
OPRRE found that "questions arose constantly which involve interpretations
of the act and decisions as to policy."
Over the next four pages of Public Roads, OPRRE shared its responses to many
of the questions. For example, some states wanted to know the point at which
the federal government incurred an "expenditure." This was important
because it could affect how long funds would remain available to the state highway
agency. Under Section 3 of the act, funds apportioned to a state remained available
for expenditure for four years (the year authorized, plus three years). A federal
expenditure, the OPRRE concluded, occurred when the Secretary of Agriculture
executes the project agreement, which approves the project plans, specifications,
and estimates and which sets aside the allotted funds in the U.S. Treasury.
At that point, the government is obligated to pay the amount of the funds set
aside, and the funds would not lapse even if four years passed.
Saving Fuel in Highway
Work
Coal was used extensively in highway construction. It provided steam for quarry
plants, to drive road rollers, and to power municipal paving plants, and it
was used in the manufacture and use of bituminous materials.
With a coal shortage created by the war, George E. Ladd, OPRRE's economic geologist,
offered tips on how "every man in charge of a coal-consuming steam-powered
unit used for quarrying, stone crushing, and road construction [could] not only
do his 'bit,' but his best to cut down the waste of coal."
Ladd summarized his tips by stating that coal use can be reduced "by eliminating steam leaks, by keeping the boiler and furnace in the best possible condition, and by proper attention to 'firing' and draft regulation." He followed with two pages of ideas to help the "fireman" reduce waste.
State Highway Departments
and Labor
To help highway officials deal with the war-related labor shortages, the final
series of articles in Public Roads contained the views of State Highway Commissioner
C.J. Bennett of Connecticut, Chief Engineer Patterson of Rhode Island, and State
Highway Commissioner S.B. Bates of Vermont.
Connecticut had found that allowing contractors to secure labor resulted in
unsatisfactory bids for construction on a unit basis. Therefore, contracts could
best be awarded on the basis of cost plus a fixed profit or cost plus a percentage.
"Given reasonable department officials, honest and competent contractors,
this method of carrying on highway construction at this particular time should
give good satisfaction."
Given the labor shortages, two other labor sources should be considered: convicts
and "interned alien enemies." The use of convicts had proven to be
successful, especially if the convicts were paid a reasonable amount for their
services, Bennett explained. He added that they should be treated "not
as convicts but as men." Although interned aliens were few, the number
might increase during the war. Whether using convicts or interned alien enemies,
precautions to prevent escape were needed.
Neither Rhode Island nor Vermont had experienced serious labor problems. Nevertheless,
the Rhode Island General Assembly had passed legislation allowing the use of
convict labor. Many convicts employed in road work "were unused to hard
manual labor and had never had experience in road work," thus reducing
efficiency for the first two or three weeks, after which efficiency increased
gradually.
The results varied in Rhode Island. One road built by convict labor was first
class, while another road built by a different convict labor camp was disappointing.
"Differences in housing facilities, in the personalities of the guards
[watching] over the convicts, in the capabilities and energy of the camp cooks,
and in the character of the prisoners themselves were reasons, to our minds,
for such a difference in the results secured." Still, Bennett was convinced
the state could receive excellent results with convict labor, while the convicts
would receive "physical and moral benefits."
In Vermont, highway improvements had been limited to relatively small projects,
with the number of laborers rarely exceeding 20 men. Moreover, scheduling work
during the times that would least interfere with agricultural work helped reduce
labor problems. Still, with the state's farms experiencing labor shortages due
to enlistment in the Army, the state was considering the use of convicts. Bates'
short article concluded, "This plan is receiving careful consideration
at the present time."
Coming Publications
Page 44 of Public Roads listed seven "Coming Publications" of OPRRE.
The publications were about stone aggregates, highway cost-keeping, specifications
for bituminous road materials, production of crushed stone, gravel roads, earth
and sand-clay roads, and physical tests of road-building rock.
The following page listed OPRRE publications available for free distribution
while supplies lasted. The publications included annual reports, OPRRE bulletins
and circulars, farmers' bulletins, and reprints from journals and the Agriculture
Department's yearbook.
The City's Part in
the Farm Labor Problem
In Public Roads' closing article, Assistant Secretary of Agriculture Clarence
Ousley encouraged city workers to volunteer to help farmers, particularly during
harvesting season. As several previous articles made clear, labor shortages
were hurting many sectors of the economy, not just road-building. Fortunately,
as Ousley pointed out, "In towns and villages throughout the country, from
30 to 40 percent of the persons engaged in various lines of industries were
born and brought up on farms." Thus, a supply of volunteer labor was readily
available.
Although the article did not address the issue of rural flight to the cities,
this issue was an important concern of the times. From the earliest days of
the Good Roads Movement in the 1880s and 1890s, improved roads were seen as
a way of making farm life more attractive by mitigating the isolation of most
farms. A month after signing the Federal Aid Road Act of 1916, President Wilson
said that the act would "promote a fuller and more attractive rural life."
Indeed, it did, but not enough to reverse the shift of population to the city.
Conclusion
Volume I, Number 1 of Public Roads reveals the fault lines of a new program
- the federal-aid highway program - that had not yet taken shape. Labor and
material shortages during World War I not only compounded the problems facing
road builders at all levels of government, but they also masked the problems
that would plague the federal-aid highway program when peace returned:
The problems quickly became
manifest after the war and prompted calls for an overhauling of the program
and even for its elimination.
The end to the controversies would occur following passage of the Federal Highway
Act of 1921, which restricted federal-aid highway funding to a system comprising
no more than 7 percent of each state's roads with three-sevenths of the system
consisting of roads classified as "interstate in character." (For
additional information, see the series of articles by Richard F. Weingroff in
Public Roads, Summer 1996.)
Equally important was the appointment of Logan Page's successor in 1919, Thomas
H. MacDonald, chief engineer of the Iowa State Highway Commission. Unlike the
impatient scientist Page, MacDonald was a consensus builder who saw the state
highway departments and AASHO as allies in the great and important enterprise
he would lead until his retirement in 1953.
Under the new mandate of 1921, progress was rapid. By 1925, 46,486 miles (75,000
kilometers) or more than one-quarter of the approved federal-aid system had
been brought up to reasonable travel standards.
But that was in the future. In May 1918, OPRRE could include only a few articles
in Volume I, Number 1 about projects under construction because only a few had
gone beyond the "paper" stage. Instead, the articles reflect the pent
up demand for projects that would have to wait until war's end. Still, Page
could assure readers that OPRRE would proceed with one thought in mind: "[A]
determined and united disposition to bring to road betterment that which is
best in and for this generation, that which, in this period in our history,
will make for the greatest strength of our nation."
Richard F. Weingroff is an information liaison specialist in the Federal Highway Administration's Office of Infrastructure.
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Turbo Architecture
Communities of Practice
Middle School Students Design Future Cities
The Partnership Initiative
An Australian Road Review
Advantages of the Split Intersection
One Mile in Five: Debunking the Myth
National Transportation Week
Annual Index
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