Highways and Highway Transportation
The cover image has been created for this text, and is in the public domain.
© Major Hamilton Maxwell © Underwood and Underwood
STORM KING HIGHWAY
A Great Engineering Project Along the Hudson between Cornwall and West Point, N. Y.
HIGHWAYS AND HIGHWAY TRANSPORTATION
BY GEORGE R. CHATBURN, A.M., C.E. Professor of Applied Mechanics and Machine Design Lecturer on Highway Engineering The University of Nebraska
NEW YORK THOMAS Y. CROWELL COMPANY PUBLISHERS
Copyright 1923, by THOMAS Y. CROWELL COMPANY
Printed in the United States of America
The following pages on Highways and Highway Transportation do not pretend to be an exhaustive treatise on the subject, but rather a glimpse of the vast development of the humble road and its office as an agency for transportation. Possibly the grandeur of the mountains is best appreciated by one who lives among them, who climbs their acclivitous heights, who daily experiences their power and majesty, and measures their magnitude by grim muscular exertion. But, even so, it would be foolish to contend that he who gets his information from the seat of a Pullman car receives no benefit from the hasty glimpse, or, that his imagination is not quickened and cultured by the experience. In writing this book, then, I have had constantly in mind the myriads of people who have not the time, and possibly not the facilities, to search the pages of the literature of the past for the origin and development, or to work out their present importance, of our amplification of roads and of road uses. It is felt that many of these people laudably desire a conversational knowledge of the origin, evolution and present status of highway transportation, even though it be glimpsed by a very rapid passage through a very large subject.
The primary objects have therefore been, to sketch briefly and simply the development of the transportation systems of the United States, to indicate their importance and mutual relations, to present some practical methods used in the operation of highway transport and to make occasional suggestions for the betterment of the road as a usable machine for the benefit and pleasure of mankind.
George R. Chatburn
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PREFACE
CONTENTS
LIST OF INSERTS
Stages in Civilization.
Stage of Direct Appropriation.
The Pastoral Stage.
The Agricultural Stage.
The Manorial and Feudal Systems.
The Handicraft Stage.
Craft-guilds.
Effect upon Trade.
The Domestic System.
Governmental Control.
Agriculture.
The Industrial Stage.
Railways Developed.
Some Historic Roads and Their Influence.
Early Highways.
Roman Roads.
Pre-historic American Roads.
Conclusion.
SELECTED REFERENCES
FOOTNOTES
The Birch Bark Canoe.
Meagerness of Early Roads.
Settlement Follows Waterways; Portages.
Lines of Travel.
Trails from the North.
Boone’s Trace, or The Wilderness Road.
Calk’s Diary.
Marquette’s Explorations.
The Lewis and Clark Expedition.
Transcontinental Trails.
Origin of the Oregon Trail.
The Final Trail.
Salt Lake Trail.
Later California Trail.
Santa Fé Trail.
Gila and Spanish Trails.
Era of Turnpiking.
Turnpike Roads.
Wagon Road Desuetude.
National Participation.
Extension of the Cumberland Highway.
SELECTED REFERENCES
FOOTNOTES
Canals.
Canal Prosperity and Desuetude.
Ship Canals.
The Panama Canal.
French Participation.
River Transportation.
The Government’s Attitude Toward River Improvement.
SELECTED REFERENCES
FOOTNOTES
Pacific Roads.
Construction of Pacific Roads.
The Crédit Mobilier.
Railroad Consolidation.
Mechanical Development.
The Evolution of the Sleeping Car.
Street Car Service.
Electric Traction.
SELECTED REFERENCES
FOOTNOTES
The Influence of the Bicycle on Roads.
Office of Public Roads Inquiry.
Object-Lesson Roads.
Rural Free Delivery.
State Aid.
Salient Features of the State Aid Law.
Federal Aid.
SELECTED REFERENCES
FOOTNOTES
Legitimate Fields of Transportation Agencies.
Intra City Traffic.
Length of Haul for Economical Trucking.
Short-Haul Roads Reduce Express Rates.
Avoiding Waste.
Carve Out New Fields of Usefulness.
SELECTED REFERENCES
FOOTNOTES
Business Passenger Traffic.
Pleasure Passenger Traffic.
Freight Traffic.
Traffic between Towns.
Motor Bus Traffic.
To and from the Farm.
Terminal Facilities.
The Social Aspect of Motor Transportation.
Consolidation of Rural Schools.
Changing Concepts of the Public Schools.
Rural Mail Delivery.
The Automobile and Health.
The Automobile and Crime.
Vandalism.
Conclusion.
Addendum.
SELECTED REFERENCES
FOOTNOTES
Motor Transport Efficiency Outline.
The Highway System Unit.
State System.
The Procedure of Laying out a Road System.
Financial Considerations.
Traffic Census.
Methods of Taking Traffic Censuses.
Classification of Traffic.
Destructive Factors.
Other Methods of Estimating Amount of Traffic.
The Selection of a Suitable Type of Road.
Materials and Design.
Resistance Due to Grade.
Slipperiness.
Sanitariness.
Noisiness.
Acceptability.
Some Types of Roads and Their Qualities.
Comparison of Roads.
SELECTED REFERENCES
FOOTNOTES
Grain Exchanges.
Coöperative Marketing.
Highway Transportation from Farm to Local Market.
Stock Raising.
Shrinkage.
Dairying.
Poultry.
Diversified Farming.
Forestry.
Other Uses of the Truck.
Amos Log Loader.
In the Yards.
Mining.
Factory Products.
Construction.
Other Agencies.
SELECTED REFERENCES
FOOTNOTES
Private Financing.
Public Financing.
Direct Taxes.
Indirect Taxes.
Special Taxes.
Zone Weights.
To Calculate the Frontage.
Procedure with Unequal Zones or Irregular Lots.
Second Method of Apportioning Assessments.
Rule for Assessment.
Miscellaneous Sources of Revenue.
Bonds.
Kinds of Bonds.
Total Cost by the Three Kinds of Bonds.
The Term of Bonds.
Stocks and Bonds.
National and State Aid.
Federal Aid.
State Aid.
Present State of Federal Aid.
Matching Federal Aid Dollars.
Financing Highway Transportation.
SELECTED REFERENCES
FOOTNOTES
The Driver.
Driving and Operating.
Horns.
Stopping Cars on Grades, Streets, etc.
Backing.
Other Forms of Carelessness.
The Car.
Skidding.
The Brake.
Flexibility.
Steering and Turning Ability.
Lights.
Unlighted Vehicles.
Speedometer.
Bad Roads Cause Accidents.
Embankments and Guard Rails.
The danger from sharp turns
Superelevation.
Clear Vision.
Curves.
Bridges and Culverts.
Railway Crossing Accidents.
The Automobile and Crossing Accidents.
Clearance.
Pedestrians.
Jay Walking.
Obstacles that Obscure Vision.
Pedestrians on Country Roads.
Slow-Going Vehicles.
Bicycles.
Road and Traffic Regulations.
SELECTED REFERENCES
FOOTNOTES
Trees.
Shrubs.
Climbing Plants.
Semi-Formal Style.
Telephone and Other Poles.
“The Ideal Section.”
Location of Poles.
Legislation.
Local Conditions Determine Planning.
SELECTED REFERENCES
FOOTNOTES
Ranking and Parking.
Parking Spaces a Convenience to Motorists.
One Way and Rotary Traffic.
Taking Care of Opera House Traffic.
Public Garages.
Terminal Stations.
Gas, Air, and Water Stations.
Named and Numbered Roads.
Marks, Signs and Guides.
Distance and Direction Signs.
Uniformity of Signs.
Letters and Colors.
Warning Signs.
Map Signs.
Detour Signs.
Location of Detour Markers.
Speed Signs.
Traffic Guides.
Dummy Cop.
Semaphores.
Signal Lights and Colors.
Road and Street Lighting.
City Traffic.
Touring.
Camping Grounds.
Something More Moderate.
Camp Sites.
Hotels.
Parks.
Information.
SELECTED REFERENCES
FOOTNOTES
INDEX
Transcriber’s Notes
