The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1909-12-08
The Improved Roads.

The Improved Roads.
OF the 153,662 miles of improved
roads in the United States, Indiana
has the largest mileage--that is, 23,.
SIT miles. Ohio occupies the second
place, with 23,460 miles. Wisconsin
Is third, with 1858 miles; Kentucky
fourth, with 1886 miles; California
fifth, with $500 miles. Illinois, Mas
sachusetts and Michigan have over
1000 miles each; Minnesota over
5000 miles; New York over; b00e
miles; Tennessee Y er 1000 miles:
Connecticut, Maine, Missouri, New
Jersey. Oregon. Pennsylvania and
Texas, over 1000 miles each, and Ala
bama, Georgia. Iowa, Maryland, New
Hampshire, North Carolina, Rhode
Island, South Carolina, Vermont, Vir-
ginia and Washington, over 1000
miles each.
In about two-thirds OF the States.
gravel has been the principal surfac.
ing material used in improving the
roads. The largest mileage of gravel,
roads vas found In Indiana, Ohio.
Wisconsin. Massachusetts,, Michigan,
Minnesota, Illinois and California. In
j eight States the mileage OF macadam
roads exceeds that of gravel, andlina
few others 1t Is nearly equal. Ken.
lucky has the largest mileage of road
surfaced with stone-over 5000 milea
and Ohio is second with a little
over 1000.
BY comparing the percentages Of
roads improved with the population
per mile Of road, it will be noticed
that in most cases the States which
have the highest percentage OF im-
proved roads have the largest popu-
lation per mile Of road, and vice.
versa. While it cannot be claimedfo r
improved roads that they Invariably,
lead to increase in population good.
roads are certainly a powerful factor
in encouraging immigration, especial
ly in sparsely settled regions.
The percentage of improved roads
in any community. or State depends
upon a variety of causes. the most
important Of which may be summed
up as follows. XII Availability of
suitable bodybuilding material: Cd.
wealth of the State in agriculture,
manufactures, transportation, etc.;
(3) requirements OF traffic. Prosper.
ity promotes a desire for the adyaE-
tages and benefits to be derived from
the improvement Of the roads; but
whether a community is rich In agrt.
culture or otherwise, II 1t has 1totde-
pend on materials imported from dis
tant places, progress in the improve
ment OF the roads will be much
slower than If local materials are
abundant. 6
There are several other reasonsi
why the percentage of improved roads
is higher in somerof the States than,
|. in Others. The high percentage Of
improved roads in Massachusetts.
Rhode Island, Connecticut and also
New Jersey is due principally to the
facts that suitable road building ma
terials abound, that these States are
densely populated, and that many OF
the roads have been built through
the aid of the States and under the
direction Of competent State authort-
ties. Indiana and Ohio have an nm
usually high percentage of improved
roads, because these States are abund.
antly supplied with good road-build-
| ing stone and gravel and because the
social and economic conditions were
favorable to the making Of public inn
! provements.
A comparison of the percentage OF
roads improved with the acreage
values of farm lands in the United
States shows that tae average. per-
centage Of the improved roads in all
States where the land is worth less
than $40 per acre is 10 per cent.
whereas in the States showing an
acreage value Of more than $40 i'm.
proved roads constitute. an average OF
nine per cent. Of the total mileage.
| Expressed inversely, the States show
ing a high percentage Of improved
roads have on the average relatively
high acreage values, while those
showing a low percentage have low
acreage values. %.