The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1909-04-30
STATE ROADS
BUILT OR
PROJECTED
Within Two Years About lz0 Miles Have
Been Contracted for at Average Cost
Of S7,27l Per Mile.
Interesting Report by State Highway
Commissioner Sent to Governor Weeks
Today Under New Law l6l Towns
Have Applied for an AppOrtiOnmeut.

Hartford, Conn, April 30.-The bien-
NAL report of State Highway Commits
SiOner Macdonald, which was made
public today, shows that the number
of finished roads that have been ac-
cepted in the past two years is e2.75
miles, representing an expenditure of
1901, 35S.47. The contracts let, but not
completed, during the past two years,
represent a mileage of 1887, and will
call for an expenditure of $S72, 6S2.S1.
Of this amount $3.50, 649.SS has been
paid on these contracts. Considering
the amount of money expended, and
also the fact that many of these con-
tracts are nearly finished it is safe to
say that of this last item, fifty miles
can be considered as completed. This
would represent a total of 1920 as
the result of the two years work of
the department.
The report which is voluminouS
one, starts out by outlining briefly the
laws under which the department has
operated, since the beginning of the
movement in 1885, when the biennial
appropriation amounted to $3.50, 900,
which amount was sustained equally
by the State, counties and towns in
which the State operated, until the
present law, which was passed in 1907
and which provides for a biennial ap-
propriat ton of 81, 500, 600; $1,000. 900 of
which is used for award in towns gem
orally and 100000 for trunk lines. This
expense is so appOrtiOned that to towns
having a grand list of over 81, 25O, 600
the State contributes three-fourths and
to towns having a grand list of ST.
250, 0C0 or less, the State contributes
Seven ghthS.
The present law, which also provides
for the issuance of $4,000, 900 worth of
bonds the proceeds of which are to be
expended on State highways, is de-
Scribed in the report as the "beSt and
ha1nfI11 law I1ndnT which the
State has operated" The evident ap-
prevail of the new law by the towns
is noted from the fact that in 1897
but 80 towns applied for apportion-
ment, while under the present law, 161
towns have applied.
Following the passage of the law, of
1907, which also provided an appro-
priatio of So, 900 per year for the re-
pairing of roads, the commissioner de-
scribed the trouble experienced in
gathering the information as to which
roads needed the repairs. After hav-
ing full information on this subject, it
was discovered that a number of the
towns had neglected the roads entire
ly, so that the expense of putting them
into condition would require a great
deal more money than could be spared.
At the request of the Highway Com
missioner, Attorney General HOlcOmb
gave a decision to the effect that the
department. had no right to pay a
premium in the apportionment of this
money, to towns that had neglected
their roads, at the expense of other
towns that had taken care of their
highways. He said that before any
town is entitled to have a. road re-
paired at the expense of the State, it
must first do whatever is necessary to
place it in condition it would have
been in if the town had at all times, /
prior to the 1907 act, kept such roads
in proper repair.
Among the towns, to which the State
on Oct. 80, 1907, allotted three-fourths
of. the entire appropriation allowed for
State highway Improvement, were
Naugatuck, New Haven, New London,
Norwa1k, Stamford and Middletown.
Regarding the care and maintenance
of our highway system. the report
says: ''In accordance with the policy
pursued by the state at the inception
eff the movement of fully trying out}
a plan before adopting it as a fixed
policy only a small appropriation was
made for the purpose, namely SIS, 900. |
1t is true that this sum was augment
ed by about $50. 900, the first year from
the money received from the licensing |
of automobiles, but this sum was |
found to be totally inadequate to COM |
prehend a systematic plan, or to pro-
vide for the care and maintenance of |
the great system that has been started. |
1t is only necessary to state that this |
sum of money was to be distributed, |
in its apportionm ent, over six hundred |
miles Of road-and this has grown |
during the. past two years to more !
than seven hundred miles.
TT is necessary for the department |
to ask for an increased appropriation, |
SO that a more generous and compre- |
hensive plan ard broader policy may
be adopted and more generous pro-
vision made for the care-taking of the |
several systems of highways that have |
been constructed and also for those |
that are to he built" ..t
The question of obliterating the dust
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