The Seattle Star Newspaper, July 5, 1920, Page 8

THE SEATTLE STAR BETTER HIGHWAYS GOOD ROADS States’ Greatest Asset ‘THE roads of the State of Washington are fast becoming nationally well known for their excellence, and are used as a standard by other communities. Permanent road.build- ing has been madea part of the state program for less than a decade; but in that short time marvelous progress has been . made, and today there are either in place or contracted for 650 miles of concrete paving, 44 miles of brick and 169 miles of bituminous. Each year the State Highway Commissioner spends $1,100,000 for maintaining roads. A large part of this money---$900,000.is a conservative estimate--would be saved if these roads were paved with a good, substantial, lasting surface. The consump- tion of gasoline would be cut down 39%, a saving of $10,000,- 000 annually. The saving in tires when these roads are paved will amount to $15,000,000 a year. Northwest Industrial A large part of the mileage of paved roads has been built by the counties themselves, several having been foresighted enough to issue bonds with which to pay for the road improvement. Not- : able among these are Snohomish County, which has 123 miles of concrete pavement, and Whatcom County, with 108 miles of one-course concrete. The voters of the state will have an opportunity of voting in November on Referendum No. 1, which will provide $30,000,000 for road paving. Educational Bureau