Evening Star Newspaper, April 24, 1921, Page 56

U —_——t A AGREE UPON A PERFECT ROAD FOR ALL BUILDERS TO STUDY Section of Lincoln Highway Planned for Heavy Traffic, Durability, Safety and Even Beauty. x = DETROIT, Mich., April 23.—The tech- mical committee, or board of highway experts, appointed by the Lincoln High- Way Association. to determine the gen- @ral specifications for an “ideal sec- Tion™ of the Lincoln highway has reach- ®d an agreement on all points and the final plans are now being prepared. = In brief, the ideal section is to be a ¥elatively short stretch of highway, so Jocated as to be easy of access from all w the country for the purpose of ion, and placed also where it will TAarry a most representative and diversi- fed traffic in the course of the coming Jears. The plans for this section have Deen carefully and painstakingly de- veloped, for it is believed that the design ‘will stand as a model for the finest and most adequate type of main road build- ng on the American continent, if not in the entire world. First, the association appeals to all America for its conception of a highway ideal, but particularly to those engaged in practical road building and those close to the problems which confront the road builder and road user. Then the Ameri- can highway engineering profession, the best and most advanced in the world, ‘was appealed to and given the problem to consider. The replies were classified and tabuiated, and finally, this winter, a board of experts, appointed to repre- sent the various phases of interest in highway construction, design and use, ‘was appointed to finally draft the speci- fications and determine what constituted @ reasonable standard of highway per- fection for America. Committee's Problem Hard. The committee had no easy prob- Jem. From the diversity of sugges- tions and plans and specifications re- ceived from every section of the Tnion. it appeared originally to be a hopeless task to get these, or any other competent men, unanimously be- hind a single expression of adequate road building. Hours were spent in the consideration of data and in spir- ited discussion of specifications, which were examined from every standpoint. The committee, first, had to deter- mine what its problem was—how far it was wise to look into the future in anticipating developments; whether this or that plan, if adequate, was practical from the standpoint of ex- ense; what the developments of ight trdnsport were likely to be; Where the line should be drawn be- tween adequacy and extravagance. ‘These questions are not simple ones to answer and they are vitally im- portant. But they were met and con- quered as they arose. Before examining the design one must have clearly in mind the condi- tions it was prepared to serve. Don't imagine that the technical committee or the association recommends, or even suggests, the comstruction of such a road as was determined upon, along the hundreds of thousands of miles of public highway in the United States. Not at all. For probably a set of specifications as was decided wupon by the committee would not be needed either now or in the imme- diate future. along even 1 per cent of Ameiica’s 2,500,000 miles of public highway. But the plan is suggestive. It indicates along what lines to work. It provided an example of to what. Any time you bring your car in the main line. interstate arteries of trafic could and should ultimately develop. Heavy Trafie Anticipated. After long deliberation and much discussion the committee unanimously voted to predicate the specifications for the ideal section upon an average traffic of 15,000 passenger cars, trav- eling at thirty-five miles per hour, and 5,000 motor trucks, traveling at ten miles per hour, per twenty-four-hour day. These arbitrary figures indicate that the technical committee believes that 20,000 mixed vehicles per twenty- four-hour day represents the practical limits of traffic on one road. In other words, should a traffic heavier than that develop between two points, it is' wise to conmstruct another parallel road on a separate right-of-way for endeavor to concentrate it on the one road. through increasing the road's width or strength. eral Specifications. Having crystallized the problem and decided definitely for what conditions lu was necedsary and wise to provide, the committee made surprisingly rap- id progress in agreeing upon the spec- Iiflulions necessary. It quickly agreed upon a minimum right-of-way of 100 feet. The majority of American roads have a 60-foot right-of-way—far too narrow, according to the minimum standard set by these practical men. Nor did they stop at 100 feet. A reso- lution was passed at the final meeting, after a careful consideration of all de- cisions, providing that a subcommittee be appointed to carefully study the final design and determine if the right-of-way requirements had been adequately taken care of. One hun- dred and ten, or 112, or even 125 feet of right-of-way may ultimately be de- termined upon as necessary, but 100 feet is the minimum. ‘ Paving Broad and Thick. i Now for the road itself. What width | and thickness of paving will adequate- ly serve the traffic volume determined upon and how should it be laid? Much time and thought was spent on this problem and it was only after long dis- cussion that the committee finally agreed on forty feet of concrete paving, with reinforced steel imbedded, ten inches thick and laid in one continuor slab without central subdivision. There were members of the committee who originaily felt that the ideal type of construction should segregate travel, ac- cording to direction, by providing for two separate strips of concrete paving on either side of a central parkway— one-way traffic on each side. While the committee as a whole agreed that this form of construction made for safe- ty and for greater speed and conven- ience, it felt this design lacked flexi- bility and did not make for the most economical and fullest use of the pav- ing provided. Forty feet of paving width permits four lanes of travel, a lane for slow-moving trucks and a lane for rapidly moving passenger vehicles, in each direction. In determining upon the kind and thickness of the paving and the use of reinforcing steel, the committee was the additional travel, rather than tol THE SUNDAY: weight on four wheels than is allowed | by the severpl states at the present time. Twenty-eight thousand pounds on four wheels was considered the practi- cal road limit. Safety and Beauty Provi How about the safety, convenicn beauty of the road? course, a forty- foot paved road wouid be safe to b.- gin with. It aliows plenty of room between vehicies, even at peak hours ef trafic congestion. But the committee decreed, with surprisingly quick una- nimity, that the dangerous open ditch, at present found along the greater pro- portion of our country roads, should go. The ideal section will be. drained catch basins and submerged tile und the earth shoulders. No darger of b ing crowded into a ditch. There Wi be none there. The other dangers of present raads result from three conditions—firsy, un- necessary and narrow rudius curv frequently insufficientiy banked or superelevated; sccond, from dark- ness and glarin nd third, from pedestrianism. | The committ ideal road s a radius of le that such cur should be means tipped up at t pér hour. In other wo that you can round them =>ned with safety. It provided lighting of the route, whic! d permit of the use of dimm .iu_the open country, and it added footpath for pedestrians. Remem Dber, these decisions were unanimous. The committee lost no time in coming to an agreement on these points. Officials of the Lincoln Highway As- sociation were to some extent sur- prised by the emphasis laid by the practical men on this committce on the importance of beautification. The committee immediately agreed upon the necessity of esthetic considera- tions. and, in allowing twenty-five feet of right-of-way at the outer edge for development by a landscape arch tect, provided also in its recommenda- tions for frequent park and camp sites, comfort stations and other fa. cilitie# _for the comfort and enjoy- ment of the traveler. The safety and convenience of the traveling_public were further consid- ered in the provision for protection of embankments with guard rails | and warning signs and the elimina- tion of all railroad crossings at grad and the remov of all obstru !u»n>i in so far as possible, for 500 feet ch way from intersections, thus pre ing a clear view of the coming travel on cross-roads. Advertising Signs Tabooed. The committec emphatically pro- nounced against advertising signs along highways and recommended that ulti- mately all distance markers and such other signs as might be necessary for the information and guidance of tourists be placed or authorized only by proper state and federal authoritics and that distance markers be standardized in character and distances between points uniformly figured from unicipal head- quarters. Along the ideal section there will be no unsightly wires, as these will run| underground in conduits. i 1t may be difficult for the layman, un- ! accustomed to seeing, in his mind's eve, | the final, collective, tangible appearance of a set of specifications, to visualize | such an “ideal” road. But it will not he necessary to confine your vision of this highway to a mental conception. The general determinations, reached after such long and careful consideration, will now be placed by the Lincoln Highway Association in the hands of a highly competent highway engincer and an | equally competent landscape architect These two, working in collaboration, wi fit_the general specifications to the spe cific location determined upon, and the ! ded. providing for permanency and endeavor- ing, in so far as possible, to cut down annual maintenance charges. In plan- ning this thickness and design the com- mittee did not assume much greater there is some one to receive it If at night, you can leave instruc- jons as to the work you wish done and it will be attended to the first Tbewvrkcmfleted.yglmull for the car at your convenience, be it day or night. SALES association hopes it will not be long be- | start STAR. WASHINGTON, D. C, XPRIL 24, 1921—PART 3. shown in the photograp! Where in the outdoorx, ix carried. The women shown on the platform. are Princess Tsisnina, Indian singer, and Miss Marie Boggs, dean of the burenu of commercial economics of road, built with the utmost care, under ion and with the inter- 1 assistance of the federal gov the state and county in s located. Purpose Is Educational. 1922, at the latest, the thousands who yearly drive on the Lincoln highwa thousands drawn from every section of the Union, will be enabled, for a short stretch—a mile, or perhaps two miles—to drive along a tangible atoin of the perfect modern the purpose of which will be educational. 1l section will serve the purpose Lincoln Highway Associ ved for it, and the purpose the U ubber Company had in mind in appropriating_the funds necessary to construct it, if the American public will be enabled to gain from it a more adequate conception of the demand of modern traflic in the way of high- way improvement. and if highway builde ing in their charge mil- lions of dollars of public funds can, through the inspiration of its example and an enlightened public sentiment, increase the adequacy of their spec fications and provide more nearly what the future will demand. othe AIR PRESSURE VITAL. The life of a tire i3 the air it con- tains. The more air, ordinarily, the longer the life. Of course, there are exceptions, but it-is a safe rule to with twenty pounds air pres- sure to the cross-section inch, and if more is needed add it. Thus a 3%-inch tire will require seventy pounds and fore the American public and those in- terested in highway construction. can drive over and inspect, photograph and study, an actual section of this ideal Eleven years of faultless service to the motoring public marks the high attainment of this organization as a i leader in the Automotive field—sales and service of unimpeachable merit. This Big Establishment With 52,000 a four-inch tire eighty pounds. Road, load and speed are determining fac- tors in the pressure required.—Miller News Service. UNCLE SAM'S MOVIES ON WHEELS. :J 18 The bureau of commercial economics in Washington owns and Operates the motion picture theater motor truck It is to be uxed to xhow metion pictures of travel and industry to American Indians on various Indian reservations, and will depart xo0n fOr a tour of the middle west. projection machine and other apparatus for the dixplay of motion plctures. the department of public instruction. DISCRIMINATION AGAINST U. S. AUTOS POINTED OUT Makers File Tariff Brief With House Ways and Means Committee. Following its recommendation to Congress that tariffs on motor cars and trucks coming into this country should be reduced from 45 per cent to 30 per cent, the foreign trade com- jmittee of the National Automobile Chamber of Commerce has submitted |a brief to the House ways and means | committee. The brief states the prin- {ciples of the American tariff policy, | cites discriminations against us by the British empire and France and sug- gests the remedy of reciprocity. The National Automobile Chamber of Commerce, representing the pas- |senger and motor truck manufac- | turers of the United States, holds to the policy that our general tariff |should * prevent discriminations by foreign nations against American ex- port trade,”. says J. Walter Drak chairman of ‘the National Automobile Chamber of Commerce foreign trade committec. ‘It should provide for additional duties, determined by law or as deem- ed expedient, which.may be imposed |on products imported into the United | States from countries discriminating |against American trade. “To administer this policy, the President of the United States should | have power to ascertain what coun- tries discriminate against American EMERSON & ORM 1620 M STREET N.W. HOME OF THE BY THEODORE P. NOYES. Despite the fact that this subject has been agitated many times, both by the press and by the police department, the “drive in the middle of the street” automobile pest is still with us. He is the driver who wants the whole road, whether it is a narrow suburban thoroughfare. or a wide city street. He horn to pass. either looks back at you contemptious or keeps on without turning, not gning to notice you. He is the driver who always trys to “bull” you at street intersections, are a timid and careful driver, he will forge ahead, taking vour right of way is the driver, who, when you blow your | Tégulation is that the slow-moving \“ROAD HOG" IS STILL PRESENT ON WASHINGTON STREETS Need of Motor Vehicles to Keep to Right Pointed Out—Middle of Roadway Taken Up by Many Drivers. nervous driver it does not look as if they could stop. and consequently he stops and gives them the right of way, when he should have gone ahead himself. And. of course, the motorist in Washington is always encountering the brick cart, drawn by a couple of horses, and proceeding at the rate of about one mile an hour, nonchalantly driving up the middle of the street One of the fundamentals of traffic vehicle should keep to the right, but if the slow-moving vehicles do not, {and are not compelied to keep to the right, the result is a hodge-podge of automobiles, trucks and passenger and if youlcars, intermingled with a few wagons. In the larger cities motor cycle policemen take particular notice of And, lastly, he is the alleged motorist, | this feature of the regulations, and Wwho when you do try to pass him, speeds up, keeping you on the wrong side of the street until vou have to drop back to keep from forcing an auto- mobile coming from the other direction into the curb. Mr. Motorist, you, of course, have had one of these experiences mentioned above. How do you feel afterward? Keep to the Right. Take 16th street, for instance, when there is a good deal of traffic. Have you ever noticed how much less congested it would be if everybody kept to the right? But everybody does not keep to the right because the percentage of these pests is exceptionally high in Washington. Concerted action is needed immedi- ately. The police, either on bicvcles or motor cycles should drive down the mid- dle of some of the busy streets, keep- ing traffic to the right. In New York and Philadelphia the motorist can pass on both sides of vehicles when overtaking them, so that it does not make much difference whether the motorist is driving in the middle of the street or mot, because in that case, when you wish to overtake him, you can pass on the right. Essential to Keep to Curb. But in Washington, whero there is no two-way passing rule, it is essential that all traffic should keep as close to the right hand curb as possible. It is mentioned specificially in the traffic reg- ulations and should be enforced, not in a half-hearted manner, but vigorously. Driving in the middie of the street, when there is not traffic between you and the curb, and when you might just as well be nearer the curb, hin- ders traffic and makes driving 2 hard- ship rather than a pleasure. Of course, these pests are mot con- fined solely to passenger car drivers, but include also the drivers of trucks and wagons. How_often have you seen one of these five-ton trucks ambling up the middle of the street, the driver com- placently smoking, utterly oblivious to everything else, particularly mo- torists, in the world. Carters Also Take Up Middle. And then have you ever noticed the little “quick-stop” delivery cars, which race around the streets much faster than the speed limit? These The truck is equipped with a A ncreen, which can be set up any- trade and to take measures in ac- cordance with this provision to pro- tect United States interests.’” Among the discriminations axgainst American cars by foreign countries are the following: Canada—Gives the Pritish the pref- erential rate of 2112 per cent on motor vehicles originating in the United Kingdom; also favors. by means of an intermediate rate of 30 per cent the automobile products from France and Belgium, over those from tha United States, which are dutiable at tke highest rate of 35 per cent. Australia—Provides schedules sim- ilar to Canada. Other British possessions—By means of a treaty recently ratified by Canada and the British Colonies of Trinidad, and Tobago, British Guiana, Grenada, Barbados, St. Luc St. Vincent, An- tigua, St. Kitts-Nevis, Dominica and Monserrat, Canadian automobile prod- ucts, when imported into these colonies, pay less by one-fifth of the duty ap- plied to American motor vehicles. Great Britain, having inaugurated a colonial preferential tariff policy, per- mits importation of Canadian motor vehicles upon payment of only one- third of the general duty. France, Great Britain, Belgium, Italy—Taxes on basis of horsepower, disregarding actual value, which dis- criminates against low-priced Amer- ican car which, because of its high efficiency engine, becomes taxed on a par with the expensive French and British automobiles. Spain, Greece, Sweden and Norway accord to the United States many advantages of the most favored na- tion. They, too, however, are con- templating to terminate all treaties with such a provision. The future arrangements will undoubtedly be less | drivers approach an intersection at favorable unless means are provided | about twenty-two or twenty-three to assure equality of treatment for miles an hour and are capable of American products. stopping almost instantly. But to the SERVICE Our 2§ # st Feet of Floor Space Is Devoted to the Interests of the Motoring Public Each of the many departments housed in this expansive area is under the direct personal supervision of a spe- cialist in the particular branch, insuring unparalleled efficiency in the interests of Buick owners and motorists in general. the production this spri . You Are Cordidlly Invited to Visit Us —where every attention will be accorded you. We are especially desirous of emphasizing the point that the-demand for Buick cars bids fair to far exceed ng—therefore IT IS ADVISABLE TO ORDER YOUR BUICK NOW Our used car department will assist in the disposition of your old car through the special de- partment which we maintain. garage facilities for both gaso- line and electric cars are second to none and our location is convenient to all sections of the city. ACCESSORIES if any truck or slow-moving vehicle is _in the middle of the street, the driver pays a little visit to the police station But in Washington there is crying need of enforcement of the keep-to- the-right legislation. The police de- partment should inaugurate an active campaign to put an end to this nuisance and breeder of accidents. And the campaign should not only take in the truck and wagon drivers. but the passenger car driver, who re- fuses, either deliberately or uninten- tionally, to heed the regulation. With the new traffic rules in foree and the department actively inter- ested in traffic matters, some action will undoubtedly be taken in the near future. —_— MOVIES BOOST ROADS. Virginia Makes Film to Show Need of Highways. The citizens of Virginia have con- ducted the most complete highw: educational campaign _ever under- taken by any state. The work had for its main purpose the establish- mem of a happier and more pros perous farm life, through the con struction of gnodern roads. As a means of presenting to the people an unpleasant truth showing how the state has progressed in all else but roads, a state photoplay w: made. More than 3.000 Virginians peared on the screen under the title “Virginia’s New Hour.” All action throughout the entire story was di- rected toward visualizing the influ- ence of the highway upon social, edu- cational and industrial conditions, and the actors, so-called, ranged all the way from the governor of the state to 2 ragged little boy on his way to school over a bad road. The film, first used in successfully carrying a road amendment to the state constitution, is being readjusted, and will be taken by motor truck and lighting eqaip- ment into every schoolhouse in the e, no matter how remote from main’ lines of travel. ‘The significance of the Virginia movement is found in the fact that at last transportation readjustment i starting in earnest at the beginning point—the farm. This work is being done under the direction of the edu cational bureau of the federal high- way council.—Motor, CRVIC &u-mgfzfia‘u