ROAD CONSTRUCTION IN AMERICA
Page 59
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The Vogue of the Coach Greater Than Ever Before. More and More Highways being Made Suitable for It
By Our Special Representative
THE long-distance (through and through-booking) runs as instanced in our issue for last week, are seldom completed without a change of vehicle ifthe journey exceeds 250 miles in length. There are special routes, of major importance, where gradients and roadways are above the average, such as between Los Angeles and San Francisco, a distance of 452 miles, where super-coaches (with sleeping accommodation) put up record performances.
The custom is, on any average service, to turn the coach at the end of 12 or 14 hours, transfer passengers and luggage to a connecting vehicle, and give both the vehicle and the driver a rest. The vehicle itself may not be rested, that being depeadent upon the business passing, the size of the fleet and other factors, but relief of the driver after the spell of duty named is almost an inviolable rule. There are, of course, some exceptions, where a fresh driver takes over and the vehicle carries on, at the end of 12 or'" 14 hours, and in these cases the passengers are not disturbed unless they wish it. These cases are the exception, as operating experience has proved that the comfort of passengers needs to be considered, also their average powers of endurance.
500 Miles in 24 Hours by Coach.
It is entirely at the choice of the passenger to break the journey or to run through without resting. There are no through coaches on the extremely long runs, as organization of personnel and maintenance dictates divisional working. If a passenger elects to travel continuously (subject to changing vehicle once every 12 or 14 hours) he can cover as much as 500 miles per 24 hours: Meals and margins in timings account for this usual limit of overall performance per 24 hours as compared with running speeds, which may reach 50-55 m.p.h. and average 30-35 m.p.h.
The contemplated American highways extensions are already planned on a definite north-south and eastwest basis. The whole of this vast continent, the area of which is 3,027,000 sq. miles. is to be treated on a large scale by its being laid out in " blocks " as in an individual city. The " blocks " will be less regular ; they will seldom be squares or rectangles ; they will often be of semi-state size; but the scheme of uniformity will be observed within a wide range of topographical modulates.
To-day, the great master map which hangs in the office of the Bureau of Public Roads, at Washington, shows 10 highways running north and south, all numbered, with the embryo connections east and west creeping up. It is the "across-continent" main links that are relatively few: to date they number only seven. The gaps or passes in the Allegharny Mountains to the east and in the Rocky Mountains to the west, are limiting elements.
• The criss-cross lines on the map are well developed in the north-east. As one looks south and west the gaps become huge. In Colorada, Utah, Nevada, New Mexico and Arizona, for example, there may be as much as 200 miles between a highway and its nearest
neighbour—in some instances 300 miles. But the Americans appear to be ready to back with cash the great conceptions of their Federal and State officials, who are charged with highway reconstruction. For that reason, if no other, the fitting-in of the road map with hard-surfaced main roads will undoubtedly proceed, but more from north to south than east to west, for the reason given. It is the inter-connections that are enough to call for, perhaps, 500,000 miles of conversion, within the next 10 years at most, from dirt to hard-surfaced roads. Proceedings and announcements at the recent Washington Road Congress furnish evidence of this.
There are no big American new highway projects. It is Canada that is proceeding with a great new eastto-west highway. America is concerned rather with the methodical and steady improvement of the dirt r*ads which once were mere trails. They are to be improved by a mixture of sand and clay in areas of light traffic, of tar and bitumen higher up the scale, and by concrete still higher up.
America's new construction, although of itself on a grand basis, will be virtually confined to the National Parks and National Forests. Beyond that, new construction merges into improvement, apart from new locations of existing routes here and there. .
One has only to look at the U.S.A. roadways map to be impressed with the scope for coaching. It is 3,000 miles across country direct ." as the crow flies;" (or is alleged to do so), from New York to San Francisco, and 1,000 miles from the Canadian border to the Gulf of Mexico.
Hastening Road Development.
These are great distances. They carry within the rectangle that they indicate an area which, despite the fact that hundreds of thousands of sq. miles within It are unsuited to transport by either road or rail, has colossal undeveloped potentialities.
American manufacturers of road-making plant are combining with American suppliers of road-making materials to hasten the day of those developments. The field in front of them is almost inexhaustible. Their only disappointment can be if the finance of America becomes too stringent for the Federal Government and the States to keep up present and recent pressure. Heavy bond issues have contributed to the available moneys. It is hardly conceivable that even America can go on providing not far short of £450,000,000 a • year for state and county highways. These, it should be explained, include all roads in country areas, and exclude only purely township streets.
The railroad companies are by no means looking on. They are participating in the fight for road traffic, and pressing the non-railway owner hard. It is in greater favour to own and control coach lines in America, as railway policy, than to acquire only a onethird or other part share of the road undertaking. As is the tendency in Britain, railway domination of the road-transport situation for passenger traffic seems to be assured, and to be merely a question of time.