American Rural HighwaysAgg, T. R. (Thomas Radford)
Science
American Rural Highways
Agg, T. R. (Thomas Radford)
Roads -- United States
=Local or Farm to Market Traffic.=--In strictly agricultural
communities the principal use of the highways will pertain to
agricultural activities and most of it will be between the farm and
the most convenient market center. In the ordinary state, the number
of rural families will not average more than six to eight per square
mile, but in some districts it may reach twenty families per square
mile. The travel from the district around a market center will
originate in this rather sparsely populated area and converge onto a
few main roads leading to market. The outlying or feeder roads will be
used by only a few families, but the density of traffic will increase
nearer the market centers and consequently the roads nearer town will
be much more heavily traveled than the outlying ones. It is apparent
therefore that considerable difference may exist in the kind of
construction adequate for the various sections of road where farm
traffic is the principal consideration. This traffic is made up of
horse drawn wagons, transporting farm products and of horse drawn and
motor passenger vehicles, the motor traffic comprising 80 per cent or
more of the volume of traffic and a greater per cent of the tonnage.
Motor trucks are now employed to some extent for marketing farm
products and, where surfaced highways have been provided, this class
of traffic is superseding horse drawn traffic.
=Farm to Farm Traffic.=--In the ordinary prosecution of farming
operations, a considerable amount of neighborhood travel is
inevitable. Farmers help each other with certain kinds of work,
exchange commodities such as seed, machinery and farm animals and
visit back and forth both for business and pleasure. To accommodate
this traffic, it is desirable to provide good neighborhood roads.
Traffic of this sort follows no particular route and can to some
extent accommodate itself to the condition of the highways without
entailing financial loss, although some discomfort and some
inconvenience may result from inadequate highway facilities. This
traffic will be partly motor and partly horse drawn, but the
proportion of motor driven is large.
=Inter-city Traffic.=--In strictly agricultural districts there is a
large amount of travel between towns, both for business and for
pleasure. The pleasure travel is mostly in motor vehicles and a
considerable part of the business traffic is the same, although horse
drawn vehicles are employed to some extent.
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