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ROAD CONSTRUCTION HAS NOT IMPROVED
IN 3000 YEARS
by Guy b. deVall
Hermann Schreiber, in his book "Merchants, Pilgrims and Highwaymen: A
History of Roads through the Ages," on page 115 wrote: "...for between the
roads of ancient Crete (3000 B.C.) and the modern U. S. Highway No. 40 NO MORE
THAN UALF A DOZEN TECHNICAL DISCOVERIES HiAVE BEEN MADE THAT ARE OF ANY SIG-
NIFICANCE."
before we look at a new idea, the words of Thomas Edison in regard to new
ideas should be recollected:
"Convention requires that we all look at things in the same
single way. ‘Thus far shalt thou go, and no farther' is
the staid remonstrance of convention. Our very familiarity
with a specialized field of experience conditions us to
think about it conventionally. We may become so accustomed
to doing things in a certain way that it does not occur to
us that it can be done in another and perhaps better way."
For 3000 years roads have not only been constructed practically the same way,
but have rendered only ONE service: to allow vehicles to travel from point A to
peint F - and that is all!
For 3000 years roads have been financed in two ways: (1) by the taxpayers;
and (2) by private individuals who were permitted to charge a "toll'' to the road
users.
)00-year-old systems of building and financine roads are responsible
for our cities' growing HELTER SKLLTER and bringing almost incredible congestion
which greatly affects the economy of the nation.
The WALL STREET JOURNAL of January 24, 1963, in an article pertaining to
roads, states:
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"One distribution consultant estimated that up to 80 cents
of the consumer dollar goes to cover distribution costs on
such products as sulphur, certain drugs and some cosmetics.
"Por all U. S. corporations Charles Beard, director of dis-
tribution cost for Union Carbide Corporation, figures dis-
tribution cost swallows more than $100 BILLION A YEAR,
OR ABOUT 20% OF THE TOTAL NATIONAL OUTPUT OF GOODS AND
SERVICES" (in 1963).
(With today's increase in the Gross National Product, how much higher is the
cost today than in 19637)
Roads not only affect the consumer's dollar but also the Government's
dollar - whether it is Federal, State, or Municipal.
The LOS ANGELES TIMES of January 20, 1966 carries the headline:
"TAXES TOP ISSUE IN GUBERNATORIAL RACE
"According to the State Poll, as of today the
State Structure in the State of California
appears to be the major issue in the 1966
Gubernatorial campaign."
Such conditions prevail not only in all 50 states but in every U. S. city,
large or small.
In recent years the property taxes in the small city of Santa Monica, like
many other cities, were substantially increased. The City of Santa Monica could,
py adopting the deVall system of constructing roads, reduce taxes and, at the same
time, have a more "livable city."
Santa Monica can acauire, at no cost to herself, the following:
(1) the land comprising the two-mile-long section of Highway 101 which runs
parallel to the ocean, thus returning it to the tax roll and bringing considerable
new revenue to the city.
(2) better housing for low-income families, the aged, and public servants
of Santa Monica.
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(3) elimination of the dangerous bottleneck which the new Santa Monica
Freeway has created in Santa Monica.
At the same time, Santa Monica can avoid:
(1) the high cost of building a causeway (one of the ideas that has been
considered for the extension of the Santa Monica Freeway).
(2) placing the Santa Monica Freeway in the middle of the city, which
would greatly reduce the tax income to the city.
Moreover, the deVall road would permit a steady flow of traffic, which
today is non-existent.
The deVall road does not consist of pulling rabbits out of a magician's hat;
deVall only proposes to adopt already-used systems and to adopt the very same
systems to today's technology and ways of doing business,
Private road financing is not new; some of the best roads in America in the
19th Century were built by private capital. Private capital built the roads 4
because they brought a profit through "toll charges" to the road users, who con-
sisted only of auto and truck drivers. Specifically, the profits were produced
only through ONE service: to permit a vehicle to travel from point A to point B.
The deVall road, instead of ONE service, would render many services, the com-
bined services bringing considerable revenues. Private capital would be anxious
to invest in a new project where their investments would bring a good rate of return.
Once the necessary consent is obtained from Santa Monica, the State of
California can put up at bidding the construction of the deVall road on that section
of Highway 101 located in Santa Monica.
Construction companies such as Kaiser, U. S. Steel, Bethlehem, and others
‘would bid. The winner would build on the lend which has been granted by the State
and the City.
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The builders, at completion of the deVall road, would receive the total
revenue which the road would bring and would pay taxes to the City, State, and
Federal Governments.
The City of Santa Monica can not only increase considerably its revenue but
also can acquire many acres of valuable land within the city limits IF it will
consider incorporating some of its agencies and services (such as the police,
fire, and first-aid stations) as an integral part of the deVall road.
The city could then make an agreement with the builders of the road to
secure the needed space free of charge.
The city could then easily dispose of some of the land and structures in the
city where said services are today located.
The road that deVall proposes to be built in Santa Monica is, comparatively,
a very simple road.
The three-dimensional model of the Freeway that deVall has built represents
a much more complex system; however, it becomes very simple once it is viewed.
The structure is provided with models of electric trains, buses, autos, and
trucks, each of which travels on separate routes. Accesses and exits for the
vehicles clearly show that all the "buts" and "ifs" have been eliminated by the
simple procedure of having previously made more than 100 experimental models, and
each one never measured less than 20" x 30',
In viewing the model, the viewer cannot help recellectinthe histcry of
roads in America. When the Pilgrims landed, they found the footpaths of the
Indians. The Pilgrims first created the unpaved roads. A generation later the
macadam road evolved, then cement roads.
Is it not logical that in the 20th Century Americans should build freeways
in steel (and cement)?
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The deVall model shows much more than mere roads; it shows that, in order
for roads to render their intended services, whole new cities must come into
being. The structures and buildings which were built beside the roads of early
America have gone. Only the roads remained. Today the cement pavement is a
"tombstone" of the valuable land which it covers. The deVall system merely builds
on the "tombstone" and, in so doing, will benefit not only the pocketbooks of all,
but the nervous systems and general state of health of all citizens.
If today 196 millions of Americans were to land on virgin soil, as America
was in the days of the Indians, with their modern tools and machines and with
steel and cement, WOULD THEY HAVE BUILT THEIR ROADS AND BUILDINGS AS WE SEE THEM
TODAY?
Guy Bossini deVall
1007 Sixth Street
Santa Monica, California 90403
Telephone: 395-2727
January 26, 1966
P.S. LIFE's January 12, 1962 issue featured an article regarding mass fall-
out shelters. The idea of "shelters," although practically ignored today, has
net been forgotten in the Pentagon and in the White House.
The deVall read would provide not only fall-out shelters (at no cost
to the taxpayers) but also an “escape route" for city inhabitants to the sea,
where boats or trains could take them to safety. With China a member of the
A-bomb club, can we afford not to give consideration to the "shelters"?