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~ I I I t r I • I • • TABLE OF CONTENTS PAGE ,-uperiol' Ilighway' are Makin'" Californians a Snperior People-Jt),~e[J1t M. Schonck, Mcmlif:1' Oalifor'nia Higll- tray GOInrnissioJl 1 Thirteen Billion :Miles 'l'raveled in 1927 b~r State Autoists__ 2 Present Statns of St;lte Highwllys Development in Cali- fornia-C. H. Pm'cell, RtatB lhghwu!} Eng,inoor· .__ :3 Progress l\1ade on Pavement. Con .. t.rnction in Hl'27-Earle Withycombe, A.ssistant Oonstr11ction Engi116B1·_______ 5 nreakiug' thE' ewhall Bottleneck-S. V. CortelyolL, District l,'ngi'1l6el' _.'______________ 7 Kew Construction Problems-c.:. ::3. Pope, Chief Construction E'ngineer 9 Sama Ana River Bank Protection Work-_ 10 Keeping Books on the Highway Budget-E. floy Higgi11s, Chief A.ccountant 11 Progress in Separation of Orade (11'0 ings_______________ 12 One Hundred Years After Jedediah Smith-To E. Stanton, Assistant Stute Highway Engineer__________________ 13 Editorials • 16-17 Flood Destroyed Portion of Desert Highway Rebnilt- Almon Coonrod. 18 State's Attitude Toward Cuntractors Told 18 The Future of the Gas Tax-____________________________ 2~ Desert Highway Employee Killed___ 26 State Highwav Vvork in the Counties__ 27 Award of Highway Contracts____ _ ._____________ 32 CALIFOBXIA STATE PB1NTISG OFFICE SACRAUENTO. 1128 58904 6-28 5~()O Superior H'ighways are .LlVlaking Californians a Superior People By JOSEPH M, SCHl'NCK, Member of the California Highway CommIssion. DISTINGUISHED French savant people. 'l'he thing that haR most impressed me penned the statement many years ago is the extent to which isolation, which in turn A that for-ros of goVeI'Ilment depend upon means a lack of convenient transportation, is forms of people. reflected in the characteristic of communities. At that time forms of goyernment were ,onversely the fact is true that geography mllch more important than forms of people. has little to do with the nature of a people, Happily this situation is reversed today, The where isolation L'l not a factor in their lives. acid te,>t now of every institution, whether vVe have a very distinctive type of moUll­ it be go'vernmental, sociaJ or commercial, is taineer in the mountain districts, where road whether it makes for builc1in~: better forms of are elther very poor or whero travel depends people. upon trails. If the words of the French The -arne is true of the philosopher might he re­ plainsmen. It is again true phrased in term~ of illouern of the city dweller. All thought, it can bc said that develop certain virtues and t 0 day fonns of people certain defects of character. larQ'ely depend upon forms Isolation, however, tends of highways. to transform even tho., f\ This is true becaIDle the attributes that are good charaf.teri. tiCA of ll.ny group into traits, that if not evil, of people are ueLermined by are at least ngly. Thus the convenience of theil' s t l' fl n g t]l beeomes stub­ transportation facilities, alld bornness; t 0 I e r: a II c e is the highway is the great changed into intolerance; tl'3.ll portation institution frank friendship is warped of our generation. into ~mspicion and fear of Provincialism with the ~trangers. narrow an c1 ill-featureu In business isolation and attributes of jealousy, sus­ stagnation are first, cousins, picion and of backward and always are fonnd dwel­ looking staudpatism is the ling together, outgrowth of too much" in­ To paraphrase another living. " a.xiom, it can be said that CosmopoW'Fmism with its when Isolation goes out of broaLlel' anu more lcinillv thc window, Progress comes outlook oJ,l life, its greate~' in through the door. gl'uce and happier opti.mism The Dark Ages ended comes with the wid e I' aft e r Western EUl'ope acquaintanceship and more traveled en masse to the intimate knowledge of how JOSEPH M, SCHENCK Holy Lands. These cru­ other people live and think sade ended a stagnation that travel gives. It is the result of "out­ that had continued for centuries, They con­ going" rather than"in living." stitute but one of many inBtances p)'oving that Henee it is that forms of pflop]e today are travel has been the biggest and most potent influenced and molded uy their hi.ghway factor iu the onward march of civilization. systems, If their roads encourage travel the The great thing that the highways of today people of any section are broadened; if their are doina is to make it possible for people roads restrict travel, both people and high­ to move easily and en masse. Travel is no ,,'ay,;; are restricted. longer a monopolized luxury of the rich. It For some years my work has made it nooes­ is a privilege that everybody enjoys and sary for me to be constantly alert in looking practices, and in whose reward of a fuller both for types of individuals and form' of and richer life all share. 2· 58904 2 CA.LIFORNIA. HIGHWAYS AND PUBLIC WORKS Improved highways have 'tripped every community, be it village or city, of the 13% Billion Miles st.rait-jacket in which i olation encased it. Nowhere el. e in the world is this so true as in Traveled in 1927 California. There is a world of meaning in the fact that the capita ownership of auto­ By State A utoists mobiles is larger in California than in any How many miles did the motorists of California other place on tbis globe. tra.,el in 192'i? The answer is 13,738,6\)3,500. The history of civilization reveals the fact Tb se interesting figures are given by the American the traveler tend'S to take to himself the Road Builders Association. better charactm·istics of the people he meets The consumption of gasoline hy California moto\' vehicles during 1927 wall 1,011,681,000 gallons. The and to lose the more unkindly trait. of his average consumption of gasoline is estimated at 13.5 own character, gallons. That makes the total mileage traveled by Intoleran~e through travel becomes toler­ Oalifornia motori~ts but slightly under 131 billion miles. ance. Rudeness is transformed into COlutesy. It is interesting to note that CalifOl'nw. was first The fear of new ideas and tmfamiliar ways in the amount of gasolioe used. New York l'auked is 10. t, giving place to an attitude of open secolJl'I with 1l92,800,OOO gallons. The avp.rnge 1I1ltionai m.inded receptivity to thoug'ht or practices consumption per motor" vehicle was approximately 550 gallons. The total number of miles tl"llveled esti· that at first may be strange. mated on a basis of 13.5 miles per gallon was placed As we have in California every type of at more than 150,000,000,000 miles. topography, 0 we have every kind of people. The average motol"ist during 1927 used 550.9 gal­ lons of gasoline lind traveled :ll'l avcragc of 7·137 Travelillg back al1l:! forth from mountain to miles. de ert, and from the sea to the forests, the The nv('rage per capita consumption in Califomin whole people intermingle freely. The benefi­ was 642 gallons llnd the average mileage traveled, cent influence of travel can not. hut have a 8667 miles. The highest per capita consumption was in mass reflection. Georgia, the 260,079 vehicles averagiUK 739 gallons Califorl.lia is destined to develo a people during the year, while the lowest was in Minnesota. such as the world has never before known. the 007,725 vehicles using nn average of but 350 gallons, or slighlly le~s than half the per vehicle The }1roceRS of this development is now well consumption in Georgia. tIDUel' way. nMany things coutributc towards the wide varill­ The rugged strength of the mountaineer is tion in the amount of gasoline used I)er vehicle in the found combined with the urbanity of the city various stlltes," according to J. EOl,ton Weeks, presi dent of the association, "In the wide differen('{~ dweller. To the dwellers in the city is coming between the amount consumed by the average motorist" the greater sincerity that fir t-hand knowl­ in Minnesota and Georgia, the primal'y reason i. edge of the great outdoors gi"ves, a sincerity climatic conditions. In Georgia automobiles r~ uspd that thc more artificial life of the city tends the year arouud. while in Minnesotll they lUI' l'cstricted. Agnin I'ouds in Geol'gia Ilrc not as goool to de-troy. as t.ho-s~ in the northerll states and bence the gas,)­ 'l'he philo ophy that life on the desert line consumption is higJlcr." engenders is melding with the industry that "The ratio of good roads to gasoline CI)}lSuUlption is not as marked as one would suppose, for the living on the plains promotes. The love of l'efl~(\n that in states where 1'0a(ls are good the mileag.· art and culture that is first found in the is more per gallon, and in most 'u,;Lauccs lhe 'Stutes commercial cities of the coast is being freely that have good road'S arc wealthy and one of tue shared w'th the hinterland. unique angles of per capita gasoline consumption i~ that in the wealthy stales where Illany owners own Califoruia':; good roads are the biggest two cars, the per capita consumption is lowered b~' thing in the state. virtue of this fuct," President Weeks points ont. Superior highways are making a superJOl' nThis is purtlcularly true of Cali1ornia, which has exC('Jlent roads and lln nll-yea.r motoring climate.

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