FRIDAY, AUGUST 22, 1958
NEVER NEED TO LACK FOR BUSINESS
WITH 50 MILLION PEOPLE ON. WHEELS
Nearby States. Continue Building Roads to Get People Quicker
to the North Carolina Coastland; We Only Have to Give ’Em
Something For Their Money to Keep Business Booming on
the Seashore.
By VICTOR MEEKINS
If we can’t find 100 people with
ten dollars each to spend, then we
may obtain the same objective by
getting 200 people with $5 each to
spend. There are plenty of people
on wheels, judging from what I
saw on a trip this month to Ohio,
New York and other places. It
looks like everybody in the coun
try is on wheels, and going some
place in a hurry.
In the northern states the race
goes on to build more roads and
faster roads, so everyone who
wishes may get some place faster.
Some of these express roads
stretch a thousand miles or more
across country, without a single
cross road* or traffic light to stop
a fellow and he only has to stop to
pay toll for using the roads. On
these fast roads, destinations may
be reached in half the usual time.
It looks like all we have to do
‘ is -to advertise the advantages of
the N. C. coast a little farther
from home, and we will attract an
increasing amount of business
each year from all these people
out on the roads.
In some 1,800 miles of travel I
found courtesy and good service
the rale. Nowhere did I run across
discourtesy, nor prices that were
out of line with those usually
charged poor folks, other than in
BEEFEATER
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DISTRIBUTORS PRODUCTS
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New York City, and some of the
places there are most reasonable.
Anyone who stops at a good
hotel, and stores his car for a
couple of nights in New York, is
going to have to pay out more
than SSO for three people. But
that’s no worse than they try to
do at some other places, as we
shall see.
The best view of Niagara Falls
is from the Canadian side, which
claims 94% of the Falls and its
waters. We talked to a number of
people over there about the tourist
business. A friendly filling station
attendant talked to me quite
awhile the other Saturday after
noon on our short visit to Ontario,
and it sounded just like somebody
talking on Roanoke Island. He
said:
“If you want to spend the night
here, I can point out to you some
high class tourist homes which will
take you for $2 a night per per
son, and they are just as good ac
commodations as you can get in
any motel. Only yesterday I saw
some tourists who said a motel had
tried to hold ’em up for $25 for a
night’s lodging for three peo
ple. I like to see folks stop over
and be treated right, for it helps
my business too,” he said.
This man also mentioned that
he knew just what parties to send
the various homes he knew.. He
said there were places that didn’t
mind the young and noisy, while
others preferred only the quiet
type.
Similar to the U .S.
Generally speaking, there wasn’t
much difference apparent any
where in that area. Food was just
as high in a big Canadian super
market, gasoline higher priced
than in North Carolina, and they
charged you four cents on the dol
lar to handle your American
money. Naturally being just across
the border, many of the people in
business there are Americans.
The countryside, through which
we took a considerable drive look
ed prosperous enough, and might
have been most anywhere in the
states, except for being more bar
ren of tall trees. Houses rank with
ours, but were designed more for
winter use. There appeared to be
night spots, beer joints, and juke
box joints on the roadsides.
Some good newspapers come
out of Toronto, and they are con
cerned about the same things we
are, plus carrying advice as to
how Uncle Sam ought to keep
more of our NATO money closer
home—in Canada. There was some
concern over a beer strike which
threatened to dry up the 12 and
a half million pints a week neces
sary to keep wet the whistles of
the people of Ontario. At one of
the resorts in Alberta, a big black
bear had snatched and killed a
seven year old girl. A husband in
Quebec had increased his wife’s
insurance by $12,000 and two days
later was accused of murdering
her. In Quebec, thugs had slugged
an auto dealer and stolen SIOO,OOO
from him. The Nautilus had just
made its historic voyage under the
North Pole. A sl3 million express
way was being planned to ease
traffic in one Canadian area.
And this brings us to the sub
ject of expressways , thruways,
turn-pikes, or whatever you choose
to call them, which now makes it
possible to get to distant places
twice as fast, by paying a fee and
by using a fourth more gas. We
i drove half of our 1,800 miles on
' these big super-roads with not a
cross roads in six hundred miles,
and speeds allowed at 60 and 65
mph.
Naturally one gets quickly
across the state, but the tourist
misses many really interesting
things. He doesn’t see the quaint
old towns, with their many his
torical attractions; he doesn’t ob
serve the diverse occupations and
methods of living in a multitude
of communities. I took the express
ways out of curiosity and because
the time I could be away from
business was limited. But any
other time I shall travel the lei
surely routes which wind through
the quaint and interesting country
side.
I thought of what the new turn
pike had done, between Peters
burg and Richmond. It has been
open only a few weeks, at a cost
of $73 millions. There is no need
to stop anywhere except to pay
the toll which is 65 cents between
Petersburg and the northside of
Richmond. Instead of the usual
one to one and a half hours along
busy U. S. No. 1, with its 65 traf
fic lights, the trip can be made in
some 40 minutes, or less. The road
offers relaxed driving on a good
' surface for 34.7 miles.
This $73 million dollar express
way helps to get tourists through
towns faster than ever, but it also
does something else. It takes
business from the dozens of mod
ern motels on No. 1. between
Petersburg and Richmond. No
doubt many of them will be forced
out of business; in effect their
property will be confiscated
through depreciation in value.
Perharps the losses along the old
road will equal the cost of the
new expressway.
Pa. Turnpike Oldest of All
For about the fourth time. I
travelled on the Pennsylvania
turnpike, which I rode on first
about 20 years ago when it was
newly built. This road sprawls for
470 miles across the state from
the Delaware River and the New
Jersey Turnpike to the Ohio line,
and for about one cent per mile it
may be used. It goes through
seven tunnels under mountain
peaks and continues another 397
miles across northern Ohio and
Indiana to Chicago.
To police this 470 miles of
Pennsylvania turnpike, the State
employs 159 men, and spends
SIOO,OOO a month. Os course there
are hundreds of other employes on
this highway, including ticket
takers, mowers of grass, mainte
nance men, etc. Os the entire dis
tance driven along this route we
saw only one officer in evidence
and he appeared to be giving in
formation to a tourist, yet the top
speed limit is 65 miles per hour.
After a short visit in northwest
ern Ohio, we spent the night in
western Pennsylvania near Erie,
and there we got on the New York
Thruway, which continues 500
miles to New York City. We took
off at Buffalo, went over into On
tario for an afternoon of sight
seeing. Then we returned to the
fast toll road, and continued our
trip, stopping overnight in Syra
cuse. a town of 250,000 and the
stage’s fourth largest city.
We arrived in New York City on
Sunday afternoon, where we spent
two nights and left early on Tues
day morning, driving home via the
New Jersey Turnpike, some 120
miles, and the Chesapeake Bay
ferry, some 420 miles all told to
Manteo. In all we rode about 1,800
miles. In New York we saw two
good shows and paid double prices
for food and lodging. As for the
turnpikes, one usually pays more
for food and lodging on these also.
We noted that food has always
been in the hands of one large
caterer on the Pennsylvania turn
pike. Prices seemed higher than
most other places, and the service
seemed a little crowded. On the
THE COASTLAND TIMES, MANTEO, N. C.
New York Thruway, we found res
taurants operated by three differ
ent caterers, and prices and qual
ity seemed better for the tourist.
Our worst food was found on
the ferry steamer across to Little
Creek. We had looked forward to
this trip, and due to having used
air travel much in recent years, it
had been about four years since I
had travelled on route 13.
There is something about get
ting a meal on the water, and eat
ing while the sea and other ships
go past outside, together with the
appetizing stimulation of the salt
air, that makes a meal seem bet
ter. Not so with this service on
the Princess Anne. It was diffi
cult to get 'service, the food was
poor, the slaw apparently was
drenched with fish oil, and couldn’t
be eaten. I was disgusted and
p'lzzled.
It now appears that the ferries
are no longer operated by a pri
vate corporation. They are under
public ownership, and operated by
the state of Virginia. The conces
sions now are probably not closely
supervised, thus does politics bring
about a deterioration of public
service.
A great many vessels appeared
to be in use. We met four on this
schedule, indicating that there are
ample boats. The Princess Anne
wasn’t more than half loaded. This
is the 26-mile span which is to get
a tunnel and bridge to replace the
boats sometime in the next two
years.
In the seven states in which we
travelled there live upwards of 50
million people. Millions of these
people appear to be on wheels and
looking for some place to go.
Somebody appears to be trying to
get them to wherever they are go
ing, judging from the feverish
haste with which new roads and
faster roads have been built.
It seems that the best thing for
us, is to get our story to these
Andy Griffith
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“No Time for Sergeants”
ENTIRE PROCEEEDS BENEFIT NEW .
MANTEO HIGH SCHOOL EQUIPMENT
3 Shows Daily -3,7 and 9 P. At
Tues, and Wed., Aug. 26 and 27
PIONEER THEATRE
MANTEO, N. C
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people on wheels, and tell them
what we have to offer them in the
way of entertainment, easy, health
ful, comfortable and inexpensive
living.
Facts About Turnpikes
Some further comments on turn
pikes might be of interest. It ap
pears that they were for a time
considered the answer to the mo
torist’s problems, but not all of
them are profitable. In Pennsyl
vania, the northeast extension of
the road from Harrisburg to the
Delaware River cost 171% million
dollars, for 110 miles, but not
enough tourists have come along
to make it pay off.
Since they began building the
turnpikes 25 years ago, numerous
' parallel roads have been brought
up to date, and these free roads
appeal to the economy minded, as
well as to those who wish to travel
; leisurely and view the points of
interest in the old areas which
■ abound in a wealth of history.
Many well-informed people believe
the hey-day of the toll road is
nearing its end. There are some
■ 39,000 miles of free roads to cost
: about S2B billions to be completed
in the next 15 years.
I Some figures about the cost of
> toll roads may be interesting.
I There are about 3,000 miles of
> such roads in the United States
: that cost over five billion dollars,
: for which the states expect to pay,
i from tolls collected, usually at the
> rate of about 1% cent per mile
Construction costs on some of
s these roads have been as high as
r»wo million dollars per mile,
s There are seven tunnels bored
I through mountains on the Penn
. sylvania turnpike, one a mile long.
> An 88 mile road in West Virginia
■i is costing $133 millions. A tum-
> | pike being built in Connecticut was
II to have been built for $l3O million
I its promoters said, but is going to
r cost $464 millions. Six thousand
’ families have to be moved out of
the way. It will take in less than
five million dollars in tolls this
year, while the interest on the
bonds will cost nearly sl3 millions.
The state has to make up the dif
ference.
Be Prepared
Vacationwise!
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OCRACOKE
by Carl Goerch
A lively account of the habits and customs of both island
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THE HATTERASMAN
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TAFFY OF
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ON SALE THROUGHOUT THE COASTLAND
i The 241 miles of the Ohio tum
i pike cost $326 millions; the exten
! sion which takes it on to Illinois,
■ a distance of 156 miles cost on
similar scale.
See TRAVELS, Page Eight
PAGE FIVE