Highways and Highway Transportation

by George R. Chatburn

CONTENTS

CHAPTER I
	PAGE
Transportation a Measure of Civilization	[1]
Stages of Civilization: Direct Appropriation; Pastoral; Agricultural — Manorial and Feudal Systems;Handicraft — Merchant Guilds, Effect upon Trade, Domestic System, Government Control, Agriculture;Industrial — Building of Canals, Smelting Iron, Invention of Steam Engine, Railways Developed. Some Historical Roads andtheir Influence: Early Highways — Asiatic, Greek, Roman, Pre-Historic American.
CHAPTER II
Transportation Development in the United States: Early Trails and Roads	[34]
First Settlements near Coast. Birch Bark Canoe, Meagerness of Roads. Settlement follows Waterways.Portages. Lines of Travel — Through Alleghanies, from the North, Boone’s Trace or the Wilderness Road, Calk’s Diary.Explorations — Marquette, Lewis and Clark, Fur Companies. Western Trails — Oregon, Salt Lake, Later California,Santa Fé, Gila and Spanish. Turnpike Roads, Wagon Road Neglect, National Participation — Cumberland Road. Early Inns.
CHAPTER III
Waterways and Canals	[70]
Coastal, Inlets, Rivers, Creeks. Canals — Europe, New York, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Other States;Passenger Traffic on; Prosperity and Desuetude. Ship Canals: Sault Ste. Marie, Cape Cod, Panama — Inducements for,Early Schemes, Routes — Tehauntepec, Nicaragua, Others; French Participation — DeLesseps’ Grant, Company Organized;Other Promotion Schemes; Indignation in the United States against Foreign BuildingCanal; DeLesseps begins Work; Clayton-Bulwer Treaty; Hay and Pauncefote Treaty; Commission Reports Favorably on NicaraguanRoute; French Company Bankrupt; Colombian Congress Refuses to Sell to the United States Control of the Canal Strip;Panamanian Revolution — Roosevelt’s Part in Revolution; United States Secures Control of Canal Strip, Colombia Protests;Construction of Canal Begun; Description of Canal, Canal Traffic. River Transportation: Small Boats, Pole Boats, Large Boats,Rafts. Steamboat: Construction, Mississippi River Traffic, New Orleans Levee, Mississippi Steamboats and Steamboating;Steamboat Fares. Government Attitude toward River Improvement. John Fitch Granted a Right in New Jersey; Calhoun’sActivities, Monroe’s Attitude. National Aid for Internal Improvements.
CHAPTER IV
Railroads	[99]
Origin and Early Development. Optimism of Promoters. Early Locomotives. First CharteredRailroad — Charleston and Hamburg, First Passenger Car on Baltimore and Ohio, New York Central, Camden and Amboy, NewEngland Roads, West of Alleghanies, in the South. Rapid Growth in Railway Mileage. Call for Government Aid. Land Grants.Pacific Roads — Congressional Discussion, Compromise Bills, Construction of Pacific Roads, Crédit Mobilier. Era ofRailway Consolidation — Typical Consolidations, Methods of Consolidating. Mechanical Development: Rails, Freight Cars,Locomotives, Gauge, Telegraph, Signals. The Evolution of the Sleeping Car. Street Car Service. Electric Traction — Origin,Development.
CHAPTER V
The Modern Wagon Road	[126]
Neglect and Desuetude of Wagon Roads, 1830-1890. Laying out and Working Roads, Statutory Width ofRoads. Influence of Bicycle for Better Roads: Origin of Bicycle, Development, Ordinary, Safety, Cycling Boom, Organizationof Wheel Clubs, Propaganda for Good Roads, Prevalence of Poor Roads, Comments by Writers.Good Roads Associations; League of American Wheelmen, National HighwayCommission, Col. Pope’s Propaganda, Bills Introduced in Congress. Office of Public Roads Inquiry: Duties and Limitations,Cooperation with Good Roads Organizations, National Good Roads Association — Good Roads Trains, Object Lesson Roads,Policy Discontinued, Duties and Scope of Office of Public Roads Widened and Name Changed — Educational Work, Research,Administration of Federal Aid. Rural Free Delivery of Mail: Origin, Development, Advantages. State Aid: Origin — NewJersey, Salient Features, Difficulties of Getting it Enacted; Massachusetts; Other States; State Bonds for State Aid.Federal Aid; Enactment of Law, Provisions, Appropriation, Administration, Additional Appropriations.
CHAPTER VI
Interrelation between Highway and Other Kinds of Transportation	[159]
Classification of Transportation. Railroads have not always Acted Honorably. Quantity Production andDivision of Labor Applied to Railway Transportation, to Motor Transport. Automobiles Cutting into Railway Earnings, Babson’sPrediction. Effect of Motor Competition on Interurban Trolley Lines, on Street Car Lines, Taxicabs and Jitneys, Buses,Trackless Trolleys. Guaranteeing Earnings of Street Car Companies, Legitimate Fields of Transportation Agencies. Length ofHaul for Economic Trucking. Reduction of Rates and Expenses. Carving out New Fields. Still Room for all Kinds ofTransportation.
CHAPTER VII
Automotive Transportation	[181]
Defined, Radical Changes to be Expected. Business Passenger Traffic: Jitney and Taxicab, MotorBus — Qualifications, Fares, Competition with Street Cars, Cross-country Service, Carriers of School Children, Transferbetween Depots. Pleasure Passenger Traffic: An Influence in the Purchase of Automobiles, Pleasurable Effect of AutomobileRiding, Recreational and Pathological Benefits of Motoring, Cost of Motoring. Freight Traffic: Costand Time Factors, Motor Trucks and Congested Districts, Time Devoted toLoading and Unloading, Depots, Warehouses, Devices, Removable Bodies, Sectional Containers, Store to Door Delivery, MassLoading. Devices Connected with the Truck. Devices Separate, Special Types of Bodies. Traffic between Towns: EconomicDistance, Licenses and Insurance, State Regulation without Competition, Development of State Regulation. Motor Bus Traffic:Buses, Rates, Future of Motor Bus and Other Types of Transportation. To and from the Farm: Importance of Farm Trucking,Arguments in Favor of, Cost of Trucking, Diversified Farming, Intensive Farming, Live Stock. Trucking, Benefits to the Farmer,Economy of Farm Trucking, Parcel Post Service and the Farm, Rural Express, Milk Trucks, Convenience to the Farmer, Purchasinga Truck. Terminal Facilities: Advantages. Social Aspect of Motor Transportation: Effect on Merchandising, Housing,Unification of Society, Standard of Living, Size of Farms, Salesmen, Hotels, City and Country Stores. Consolidated RuralSchools: The Public School and Patriotism, Peace, Changing Concepts of Public Schools. Rural Mail Delivery. Automobile andHealth: As a Form of Exercise, Effect on Styles; Medical Science; Sanitary Effects — Mosquitoes, Flies. The Automobileand Crime: Bootlegging, Robbery, Vandalism. Types of Automobile Transportation.
CHAPTER VIII
Planning Highway Systems: Selection of Road Types	[222]
Object of a Road. Road Classification: Agricultural. Recreational, Commercial, Military. Problem of theRoad Planner: Economy, Accommodation, Utilizing Existing Roads. Essentials to be Considered: Ruling Points, Branch Lines andDetours, Alternate Routes, Existing Highways and City Streets, Vested Rights, Widening Roads and Streets, Railroads, TrolleyLines, etc., Bridges, Culverts, Drainage, etc., Ruling Grades, Esthetics. Motor Transport Efficiency Outline, Highway SystemUnit: Arguments in Favor of National System — Eliminates Sectional Differences, Gives Continuous Roads, Military Roads,Benefits of Example. State Systems — Benefits. Procedure of Laying out a Road System: Commission, Determining Factors,Maps, Tentative System, Reconnaisance Survey — What Shown, How Taken,Instruments; Hearings — Object; Final Location — Considerations, Traffic Census Advisable. Financial Considerations:First Cost, Upkeep, Traffic Census: Affects Location, Type of Road, Grades, Width, Foundations. Making a Traffic Census:Variation of Traffic — Number of Counting Days, Hours Each Day, Weights, Observer’s Cards, Both Way Count, Weather,Stations — Location of. Classification of Traffic: Object, Maximum Loads, Effect of Heavy Loads, Influence Units ofTraffic — British, French, Other Countries, Maryland, Massachusetts, Borough of Brooklyn; Suggested Form of TrafficSheet — New Jersey. Destructive Factors: Density of Traffic, Weight of Vehicles, Impact, Speed, Wrinkling, Sprung andUnsprung Weight, Tires, Pleasure Cars and Light Traffic to be Considered. Other Methods of Estimating the Amount of Traffic:Area Served, Tonnage Arising. Distribution of Traffic over Township Roads. Selection of a Suitable Type of Road. TaxpayersAllowed to Assist in Selection, Engineers to Suggest. Ideal Road: Qualities of — Low First Cost, Durability — Materialsand Design, Resistance to Traction and Tractive Force — Horse, Truck, Speed, Temperature, Roughness, Width of Tire,Diameter of Wheel, Table of Resistances; Resistance Due to Grade — Formulas, Coefficient, Available Engine Effort;Slipperiness — Type of Pavement, Climatic Conditions; Sanitariness — Definition, Effect of Type of Road; Noisiness;Acceptability. Some Types of Roads and their Qualities: Earth, Sand-clay, Gravel, Macadam, Bituminous Macadam, BituminousConcrete, Brick, Concrete, Creosoted Wood Block, Asphalt Block, Sheet Asphalt, Other Types. Comparison of Roads — SpecimenTables.
CHAPTER IX
Effect of Ease and Cost of Transportation on Production and Marketing	[273]
Production Defined, Productive Activities — Change of Form, Change of Place, Change of Time. Natureand Labor. Capital — Stored up Labor. Marketing — Wholesaling and Retailing. Grain Exchanges; Defined, Object,Commission Merchant, Dealing in Futures — Hedging. Cooperative Marketing: Advantages. Local Grain Merchant — FinancingMovement of Crops. Elements Entering into the Cost of Marketing. Transportation fromFarm to Local Market. Cost of Production, Effect of Good Roads upon, Intensive Farming, Fruit Farming, Long HaulTransportation. Stock Marketing: Changing Character of Stock Raising, Distance of Economic Hauling by Team and by Truck,Effect of Truck Hauling on Number of Hogs Marketed. Seasonal Effect. Stock Merchant — Local, Shrinkage, Dairying.Poultry. Forestry: Logging and Lumbering, Forest Management, Use of Truck and Trailer, At Saw Mill, Log Loader, in LumberYards, Mining. Factory Products. From Factory to Retailer. Terminal Charges Eliminated. Construction.
CHAPTER X
Financing Highways and Highway Transportation Lines	[306]
Origin and Reasons for Road Work. Working out Road Tax Abolished. Private Financing, Public Financing.Taxation: Tax Defined, Classified. Direct Taxes — Levied Uniformly. Indirect Taxes: Defined, Classes of, Special Taxes,How Levied, Benefits Decrease with Distance, Petitioning Influence — Curve of, Concrete Illustration. Zone Weights: HowDetermined, Plots and Tables. Frontage: Defined, Calculation, Illustrative Example. Unequal Zones and IrregularLots — Concrete Illustration. Another Method of Apportioning Assessments. Rule for Assessment. Miscellaneous Sources ofRevenue: Public Service Corporations, Bus and Truck Lines, Municipal Sale of Water, Gas, Electricity, Ice, Coal. PublicOwnership of Transportation and other Necessary Utilities. Bonds: Sinking Fund, Serial, Annuity, Comparison of Costs. Termof Bonds. Stocks and Bonds. National and State Aid. Present Status of Federal Aid. Matching Federal Aid Dollars. FinancingHighway Transportation: Individual, Partnership, Corporation. Public Ownership — When Advisable.
CHAPTER XI
Highway Accidents and their Mitigation	[351]
Accidents Result of Disorder, Codes to Prevent, Automobile Accidents Lead in Number. Causes: TheDriver — Mentally or Physically Unfit, Ignorant, Indifferent, Reckless; Driving and Operating: Recklessness, Speeding,Around Sharp Turns, Passing Cars. Horns. Stopping Cars on Grades, in Streets,etc., Backing. Other Forms of Carelessness. The Car: Skidding, Brakes, Flexibility, Steering and Turning Ability, Lights,Unlighted Vehicles, Speedometer. Bad Roads: Slipperiness — High Crowns, Embankments and Guard Rails,Super-elevation — Rule for, Clear Vision, Curves, Bridges and Culverts. Railway Crossing Accidents: Prevalency,Elimination of Crossings — Cost, Automobile Drivers Careless — Observations, Methods of Mitigation; BridgeClearance. Pedestrians — Jay-walkers, Obstacles that Obscure Vision, Pedestrians on Country Roads, Slow Going Vehicles,Bicycles. Road and Traffic Regulations: Development of, Council of National Defense Code, Education Necessary.
CHAPTER XII
Highway Esthetics	[382]
Indispensable Elements of Architecture — Stability, Utility, Beauty. Esthetic Sense — Appliedto Roads, to Landscape Gardening. Styles — Natural and Formal. Application to Roads. Varieties of Road and StreetTrees — List; Shrubs — List; Climbers — List. Semi-formal Style. Telephone and other Poles, the Ideal Section,Legislation Necessary. Local Conditions Determine Planting.
CHAPTER XIII
Aids and Attractions to Traffic and Travel	[418]
Pleasure Riding — Extent, Advantages to a Community to Have Tourists Pass through, Ranking andParking, Parking Spaces a Convenience to Motorists — Space for and Angle of Parking, Location of Parking Spaces, One Wayand Rotary Traffic, Opera House Traffic, Public Garages — Several Story Garages. Terminal Stations — Omaha,Poughkeepsie, Elsewhere. Gas, Air and Water Stations, Named and Numbered Roads; Marks, Signs and Guides — Distance andDirection Signs, Letters and Colors, Warning Signs, Map Signs, Detour Signs, Location of Detour Markers, Dummy Cop,Semaphores, Signal Lights and Colors, Road and Street Lighting, City Traffic Lighting, Traffic Officer, Semaphore andTowers. Touring: Prevalency and Pleasures of, Camping — Grounds, Caravans, and Equipment. Camp Sites, Hotels, Parks,Information Bureaus and Agencies.
Index	[465]

LIST OF INSERTS

[1].	Storm King Highway	Frontispiece
	A Great Engineering Project Along the Hudson between Cornwall and West Point, N. Y.
PAGE
[2].	The Appian Way		22
	Showing the original Paving Stones laid 300 B.C.
[3].	Map of Italy		24
	Showing Some of the Twenty or More Roads that Radiated from Rome.
[4].	Map of Roman Roads in England		26
	(After Jackman: “Development of Transportation in Modern England.”)
[5].	Map of the North-Eastern Portion of the United States		36
	Showing the Location of Well-known Portages. There Were Other Portages Wherever Two Water CoursesCame Near to Each Other. (See Farrand: “American Nation,” Vol. I, and Thwaites, Ib. Vol. VII.)
[6].	Map		42
	Showing Main Highways and Waterways in the United States about 1830. When the Railroads Entered the Industrial Arena, the Country Was Being Covered With a Net Work of Highways. (Based on Tanner’s Map of 1825 and Turner in “American Nation,” Vol. XIV.)
[7].	Map		54
	Showing Transcontinental Trails in the United States.
[8].	Way Bill		66
	Used on the Slaymaker Stage Line from Lancaster to Philadelphia,1815. (Courtesy of Prof. P. K. Slaymaker, Lincoln, Nebr.)
[9].	The Sault Ste. Marie Canal		76
[10].	The Evolution of the Railway Train		102
	1. The First Railway Coach—1825. 2. Horse Power Locomotive—1829-30. 3. Stourbridge Lion—1829. 4. Stevenson’s Rocket Locomotive—1829. 5. The DeWitt Clinton Locomotive—1831. (From Brown’s “First Locomotive”—Courtesy of D. Appleton & Company.)
[11].	Modern Locomotives		120
	1. Showing the Growth in the Size of Locomotives During the Past Twenty Years. The Smaller Locomotive is anAmerican Type Class Engine of 1900. The Larger is a Mountain Type Engine. Both are Used on the C. B.& Q. R. R. Photographed at Lincoln, Nebr., Sept., 1922. 2. One of the New Gearless Electric Locomotives Built by the General Electric Company for the C. M. &St. Paul R. R.
[12].	Transportation Across Death Valley		126
	A Picturesque Method of Earlier Days.
[13].	Good Roads Day in Jackson County, Mo.		132
[14].	Chart of the Organization of the U. S. Bureau of Public Roads and Rural Engineering, 1917		142
[15].	Hard Surface Highway in Oregon		146
[16].	A Farmer’s Wife Meeting the Postal Truck		146
[17].	Trackless Trolley Operated on Staten Island, N. Y.		166
[18].	Motor or Rail-Car		166
	Showing the Gasoline Locomotive and Trailer, Operated by the Chicago & Great Western R. R.
[19].	The Evolution of the Steam Automobile		182
	1. The Cugnot Steam Carriage—1770. 2. The Trevithick & Vivian Steam Carriage—1801. 3. The Gurney Steam Carriage—1827. 4. The Church Automobile Carriage (Steam)—1833. 5. Gaillardit’s Steam Carriage—1894. (Courtesy of the Scientific American.)
[20].	A Modern Rural Passenger Bus		184
[21].	A New York City “Stepless” Bus		184
	It Has an Emergency Door, with Wire Window Guards, and will Seat 30 Persons.
[22].	The Evolution of the Gasoline Motor Car		188
	1. Panhard & Levassor Carriage—1895. 2. Duryea Motor Wagon—1895. 3. The Benz Motocycle. 4. Hertel’s Gasoline Carriage—1896. 5. The Olds Horseless Carriage. 6. Winton’s Racing Machine. (Courtesy of the Scientific American.)
[23].	Hauling Beans by Motor Truck and Trailer		200
	Sacramento Valley, Calif.
[24].	Hauling Sugar Beets to Market in a Motor Truck		200
[25].	Traffic on Fifth Avenue, New York City		234
[26].	Giving a Macadam Road an Application of Tarvia Binder		254
	This is Followed by a Coat of Screenings and then the Road is Rolled Again.
[27].	A Road of Mixed Asphalt and Concrete Being Tested Out		254
[28].	Crowning a Dirt Road in California with Tractor Drawn Grader		263
[29].	A Milk Truck Equipped with both Cans and Tank		296
[30].	A Lumber Log Truck Used in the Northwest		296
[31].	A National Highway in the Mountains of Maryland		332
[32].	A Dangerous Curve Made Safe by an Artistic Concrete Wall		364
	The Tennessee State Highway at Lookout Mountain, Built of Cemented Concrete.
[33].	Pin Oak Street Trees		388
	About 15 Years Old on Land that Was Once Considered to be a part of the “Great American Desert.”
[34].	A Cottonwood Wind Break		388
	Formerly very Common in the Prairie Region.
[35].	Warning and Direction Signs Used in the State of Illinois		434
[36].	Traffic Guides		442
	(From Eno’s “The Science of Highway Traffic Regulation.”)
[37].	New York City Traffic Guides		444
	“In November, 1903, one hundred blue and white enameled signs, directing slow-moving vehiclesto keep near the right-hand curb, were put in use in New York. These were probably the first traffic regulationsigns ever used.” (From Eno’s “The Science of Highway Traffic Regulation.”)
[38].	Traffic Tower on Fifth Avenue, New York City		446
[39].	Camping Ground and Caravan		458
[40].	A Gipsying Touring Caravan		458

• 1. The First Railway Coach—1825.
• 2. Horse Power Locomotive—1829-30.
• 3. Stourbridge Lion—1829.
• 4. Stevenson’s Rocket Locomotive—1829.
• 5. The DeWitt Clinton Locomotive—1831.
• (From Brown’s “First Locomotive”—Courtesy of D. Appleton & Company.)

• 1. Showing the Growth in the Size of Locomotives During the Past Twenty Years. The Smaller Locomotive is an American Type Class Engine of 1900. The Larger is a Mountain Type Engine. Both are Used on the C. B. & Q. R. R. Photographed at Lincoln, Nebr., Sept., 1922.
• 2. One of the New Gearless Electric Locomotives Built by the General Electric Company for the C. M. & St. Paul R. R.

• 1. The Cugnot Steam Carriage—1770.
• 2. The Trevithick & Vivian Steam Carriage—1801.
• 3. The Gurney Steam Carriage—1827.
• 4. The Church Automobile Carriage (Steam)—1833.
• 5. Gaillardit’s Steam Carriage—1894.
• (Courtesy of the Scientific American.)

• 1. Panhard & Levassor Carriage—1895.
• 2. Duryea Motor Wagon—1895.
• 3. The Benz Motocycle.
• 4. Hertel’s Gasoline Carriage—1896.
• 5. The Olds Horseless Carriage.
• 6. Winton’s Racing Machine.
• (Courtesy of the Scientific American.)

HIGHWAYS AND HIGHWAY TRANSPORTATION

CHAPTER I
TRANSPORTATION A MEASURE OF CIVILIZATION