Engineer Criticizes State Road Spending
Professor O. L. Waller warns that Washington is wasting road-building funds due to a lack of trained professionals and poor management of local materials.
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Professor O. L. Waller, head of the Department of Civil Engineering at the State College of Washington, has returned from an 1800-mile automobile trip to study the highway situation in Washington and Oregon. His observations led him to believe that while engineers can produce splendid roads with enough money, much of the capital spent on construction and maintenance is currently wasted. He argues that 'plain common sense' in the use of local materials is at a discount, and that every county needs trained experts to get the most out of every dollar. As the Federal Good Roads Act prepares to distribute $75,000,000, the demand for educated highway engineers will grow, and the state must stop wasting money, as modern transportation requires good roads everywhere.
“That plain common sense in the use of local road materials is at a discount.”
A century later, the tension between infrastructure spending and effective, cost-efficient implementation remains a cornerstone of Washington state politics. Professor Waller's 1916 critique of 'common sense' planning sounds strikingly like modern debates over regional transit and highway expansion projects.
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