ECONOMICS OF ROADING.

Auckland Star, Volume LXIII, Issue 182, 3 August 1932, Page 6

ECONOMICS OF ROADING.

The roading conference in Wellington this week, attended by representatives of Government departments, local bodies and the engineering profession, was a more important gathering than the public may realise. Its principal objects were to establish a uniform system of costing in road expenditure, and to collect traffic statistics for the consideration of roading problems —in short, the study of roading economics. Such a study has become imperative for two reasons —the higher standard of road now demanded and the consequent higher cost, and the pressure of economy upon national and local finance. The new roading ago has come with rather a rush, and some people have been inclined to lose their heads over it —to visualise the country a network of roads of the very highest grade and most expensive formation. Moreover, much of the work done has been experimental, and it is time all the results were studied in the light of traffic needs and money available. One hears of one high-class road costing much more than another of the same kind, and the other day there was a complaint from the head of a local body that a State road had been "built in the Far North at a far greater cost than the value of the traversed country warranted. On the other hand, the private engineer who convened this conference has given interesting facts to show the benefits of road improvement, such as strengthening the surface and shortening routes. Estimating the average cost of operating vehicles of all sizes at about fourpence a mile, which is probably conservative, he shows what can be saved per chain of road shortening. Traffic thus justifies improvement of roading, provided that the traffic returns in taxation a fair share of benefit received. Special cases of roads carrying little traffic, but necessary for that little, may require special consideration. The Transport Department, the Highways Board and local bodies must have accumulated a considerable mass of data bearing on traffic and road wear, but there is a great deal more to be collected. The chairman says that information available shows that the more costly types of surfacing are not warranted except in isolated cases. This is really the crux of the matter. Roads must be adapted to traffic, and no more; their construction should be graded according to what they have to stand up to. A road of the highest grade may be delightful to motor over, but it may be too good for what it carries. A good deal more information about traffic volume, costs of construction, and depreciation, will have to be collected and studied before the country is as well informed as it should- be about value received for road expenditure. So;to collect and study is a national necessity, and the engineers of the Dominion are to be congratulated on giving the movement this impetus.