Frostburg mining journal. [volume] (Frostburg, Md.) 1871-1913, 1907-12-14
TAB ON RURAL ROADS
Mileage and Cost of Public High
ways In United States.
TEXAS FIRST, MISSOURI NEXT
Outside of Settlements In 1904 Unitod
States Had 2,151,57o MiIes-But 7.14
Per Cent of All American Roads
Have Been improved


50 ''''0 '''
rer een' OF a" american HoaGs
HSVe Been improved.
whit, :. :, ,..,.. -..., ....
-,
'"'' ''''' P'' ''> vi ''' '"'''" ''"'''
""'' ''"u' S'ea'ct P'"T''!H ''''" o'l.
er" III the improvement .oi the public
roa IS and that enormous sums are eX-
pen ted annually on road construction
and repairs. there has been no infor-
nation cnmuilrd M, tn tho rrrscut timr
showing inst what hos bc,., ,ccom-
pIiybcd and how m,,,h i. cxucudrd an.
nuall- for this prrr,,.r in the United
States. saws "A Wa: hiuy;un diSpatch to
the st Louis RcpuhIic
The office Of the uv,.'i.. roads i'm tbe
agricultIral ,Irpartoc.it rr,rutlv COM
pIctnd the ,urI,...fon ,n,nui,,tinn and
nublicntion of iur,rnatiou from rverv
county of tine -ui;rI S,n.es IN REGARD
to the mileo.r of ialproyed and unim-
prnyed cnIIutry ,.,u... in ,h,. vr,r 1ooi
and the expcndi,;,rrs ON roads and
BRIDGES from prnrrrty and uoIl t,xcs
bond issues and sI,tp funds uu,or the
STATE aid laws and thr amount of val
ne of the labor rypru,,cl undrr the
statute labor laws
In 1904 there v.,.,r = 15I51O miles of
public roads in IKE Tinted States. OF
this mileage los. - mi'rI were sur
faced and gravel. "SG,l.I inilcs we're
stone. and 6.NO9.7 miles were spcciaf
materials. such rs shells. sand clay. oil
and brick, making in all l:,:;.tijiI :; miles
of improved road From this il follows
that IA per cent of all the roads in the
United States have been i"nprovcd.
BY comparing the total road mileage
with the area of all the states and ter
ritorieS it appears that tnrrc was 13
OF a mile of road per square nile of
territory. \ comparison of road mile
age with population shows that there
was one mile of road to rtcry thirty
five inhabitants and one mile of i'm
proved road to every - inhahitants.
The .. 11l.;JIO miles ut pUhlic roads in
the United States do Ert includc roads
in Indian Territory. Al;i%sl and the is
land possessions. The Wi,rag' of roads
does not include streets or boulevards
i'll Incorporated Clt!"$ ANA villages.
The majority "t all the roads i'll the
Eilci states were ORG llAIlN Iald out
along the boundary lines of farms.
with little regard for drainage. topog-
raphT ana alignment. III the eastern
states the boundary lines oi farms are
very irregular ana consequently many
OF tn" roads are crooN"d and badly To-
Gated with reference to grades. In
the middle west, where the land was
ali out by the government. the roads
follow the section lines and III thickiy
settled communities the quarter sec
tloA lines. In compiling these figures
the aim has been to include only the
mileage OF roads actually open and
i'll use.
Only four states have more than
100000 miles of roads. Texas stands
first, with l2l.lO9 miles: Missouri sec
ond, with los, l33: Iowa third, with
lO2,4lS, and Kansas fourth, with lOl,-
l96. The District of Columbia has only
lol miles OF road. Rhode Island has
2,3Gl miles, which is the smallest mile
age of any state lrlaWArr has only
5000 and Arizona only J,9SI miles.
BY comparing the road mileage with
the areas in square miles the District
of Columbia is fouHd to stand first,
with 3.1S miles of road per square mile