“The Ideal Section.”
—The so-called ideal section of pavement being sponsored by the Lincoln Highway Association, located about 40 miles south of Chicago, between Dyer and Schererville, Lake County, Indiana, is to have all pole lines and other unsightly features removed, that the natural beauty of the right of way may be enhanced. A prominent landscape gardener has made extensive studies of the land and natural features, it being in a wooded country, and has developed a plan of beautification which will be worked out along the roadside. The general specifications of the “Ideal Section” calls for 40 feet of concrete paving, 10 inches thick and reinforced with steel in such a manner that it is hoped to prevent cracking. Shoulders of 5 feet on each side will make the used roadway 50 feet wide. It is to be placed in the middle of a 100-foot right of way, allowing 25 feet each side for landscape gardening. The plans for the “Ideal Section” follow the advice of a highly trained technical committee of road engineers and road enthusiasts, and while they do not claim this represents the ultimate in highways, the Association believes an attempt should be made to crystallize the ideas of the foremost highway authorities of the country into a tangible expression of the ideal, even though the expression must lack perfection.
Of course, it is not possible that all roads in the country can be made “ideal sections.” Nor even can telephone poles be banished from the right of way. To do this, no matter how desirable it might be from an esthetic standpoint, is impracticable at the present time. It would not only be a very great hardship to the pole-using companies but the expense of removal and the cost of new right of way, or, if they be forced under ground, the cost of conduits, cables, and installation would become a part of the capital investment on which dividends must be earned. Since this would not bring extra business it would be passed on to the public by increased rates. As “it is a condition and not a theory that confronts us,” we must make the best of it and design the roadside treatment with the poles and wires as a part of it.