Hard Surface Roads
Advocated
Greensboro, Oct. 4—The
News today says:
Adoption of resolutions favoring the early construction of
hard surface road from Beaufort Harbor to the Tennessee line, following the
course of the central highway, featured yesterday’s meeting of the trustees of
the Central highway. The session, which was held in the assembly rooms of the
chamber of commerce, was attended by men from Morehead City on the east and
Ridgecrest on the west, as well as a
large number from intermediate points, all of whom were evidently imbued
by a common purpose: To press unwaveringly for real highways and not to be
parties to the wasting of public funds for the construction of top soil roads
in sections where the heavy traffic will quickly render them valueless.
Chairman Henry B. Varner was instructed to appoint one or
more Central highway “boosting committees” for the purpose of making a tour of
the Central to stimulate interest in the movement for a hard surfice pike from
the mountains to the sea. According to present plans the boosters will start at
the Tennessee line Monday, October 27, proceeding eastward to the seacoast. If
practicable, the same party will make the entire tour; otherwise, the trip will
be made in sections, Governor Bickett and James H. Pou, of Raleigh, the latter
referred to as the founder of the Central highway, will be asked to make the
tour. The other members of the party have not been agreed upon.
The chairman also was instructed to appoint committees to
present plans for improving the Central highway to county officials through
which the road passes with a view to procurement from the latter of endorsement
by “proper resolutions of the construction of such roads and their pledge to
pay their one-fourth of the cost of the same.”
“We hereby affirm,” the resolution unanimously adopted by
the trustees yesterday set forth, “the justice of the principle of construction
of hard surface roads upon the same financial terms as sand-clay and gravel
road construction; that is, the payment of one-fourth by the county or road
district, one-fourth by the state and one-fourth by the federal government.
The trustees were mindful of the fact that the present state
highway commission has regularly declined to lend to hard surface constriction
on the same degree of encouragement given to topsoil construction. On topsoil
projects counties have been procuring 50 per cent of the funds from the federal
government, 25 per cent from the state, while the remaining 25 per cent of the
cost was borne by the counties. On hard surface road projects, however, with 50
per cent available from the federal government, counties have been forced to
defray the remaining one-half of the cost, no state funds being provided. In
effect, this plan has greatly encouraged the building of topsoil roads and
penalize the construction of hard-surface highways.
Manifestly displeased with such plans, members of the
conference here yesterday repeatedly insited that some definite plan for hard
surfacing the Central highway in its entirety be evolved and it was in response
to this sentiment that James A. Wellons of Smithfield finally introduced a
resolution calling for consummation of that project. Mr. Wellons also wished to
have electric lights along the Central hiway, as well as sewer facilities,
while he proposed creation of special road districts extending one mile on each
side of the Central.
Chairman Frank Page of Raleigh, of the state highway
commission, informed Mr. Mellons that his resolution was “a beautiful dream,”
but impracticable. (name was Wellons on first two mentions and is now Mellons;
don’t know which is correct) Prior to delivery of this pronouncement Mr. Page
had declared himself anxious to see all of the Central highway hard surfaced;
in fact, he said he would like to see hard surface roads all over North
Carolina.
Resolution Is Adopted
Mr. Wellons’s resolution was referred to a special committee
for drafting. This committee was composed of G.D. Canfield of Morehead City;
N.C. Mulligan of Lexington; H.B. Craven of Ridgecrest; R.P. Coble and G.G.
Dickson of Greensboro; and F.H. Brooks of Smithfield.
As prepared and adopted by the committee the resolution received
the sanction of the trustees, the document being as follows:
“Whereas the Central highway is the principal thoroughfare
the state of North Carolina from east to west, therefore, be it resolved by the
board of trustees of the Central highway, assembled in the city of Greensboro,
N.C., this the 3rd day of October, 1919;
“That we favor the early construction of a hard surface road
over the Central highway, stretching from Beaufort harbor to the Tennessee lien
of not less than 16 feet in width, to be constructed under the supervision of
the state highway commission, each county paying one-fourth of the cost of the
construction of such road, that one-fourth be paid by the state of North
Carolina, and that one-half of the expense of same be paid by the federal government.
“We hereby affirm the justice of the principle of
construction of hard surface roads upon the same financial terms as sand clay
and gravel road construction; that is the payment of one-fourth by the county
or road district, one-fourth by the state, and one-half by the federal
government.
….
This link will show a stretch of the Central highway imposed on a current map of North Carolina. https://www.google.com/maps/d/viewer?ie=UTF8&hl=en&msa=0&ll=36.060617904228785%2C-79.05495671424376&spn=0.032544%2C0.055017&z=12&iwloc=000480d37f11f19b327f9&mid=14GokY-GvtnOGXhSoAjjNEwUf0oM
This link shows photographs and contains the story of the Central Highway in Orange County, N.C. http://freepages.rootsweb.com/~orangecountync/history/places/roads/NC10/nc10.html
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