The Ocala evening star., 1914-07-20
GOOD ROADS IN
DOLLARS AND CENTS
What 1t is Costing the United
States to Improve It's Highways,
and What 1t Gets in Return.

mately $206, ,000,0 900 was spent last
year on public roads in the United
States, according to statistics pre-
| pared by the II. S. department of
agriculture In 1904 the total was
| only 100000. In nine years
therefore, the increase has been oV-
er $50 per cent.
| This awakening on the part of the
country to the importance OF good
roads has, experts say, been due in
great measure to the principle of
state aid TO counties and other local
communities. New Jersey began the
movement in 1891 when it passed
its state highway law. Massachu-
setts and Vermont followed year
later, but for the most part the other
states were slow to move. In 1904
only fifteen had state highway de-
partments; today there are only six
| that have not. In 1913 the indi-
vidual states appropriated a total of
$38,755, ,0Ss. to supplement local
expenditures.
The value of this state aid is, how
ever, not to be measured by the fig
ures alone, for the bulk of the money
comes, and always must come, from
the counties and townships. Thus,
in 1912, the cash outlay by counties,
districts and townships, was S137,-
493,9S5. Complete figures for 1913
are not yet available, but it is safe
to estimate the sum at approximate
tIy $151,000,000. To this must be
added some $4,000, 900 to repre-
sent the value of the labor contribut-
ed instead of cash in districts where
this practice prevails. Last year,
| thel efore, local communities contrib
uted, in round numbers, one hun
dred and sixty-six millions of dollars
treasures of $38, 1856 ,08S. The true
/ Importance of this thirty eight mil
lions lies in the fact that it means
expert supervision of the expendi-
| vast sum of two hundred millions
/ When each county built as it chose
and when it chose, the services of
trained engineers were usually out of
the question. There was little op-
portunity to test innovations, little
advance in the science of road-build-
ing, and there was also difficulty in
arousing each county individually to
do it's best to improve conditions
within its own limits State aid has
changed all this. The best engineer
ing skill is available for all works
of Importance, there is cooperation
and a constant stimulus to further
improvements. The money contrib
uted by the states does not only
build more roads, it makes better
those that other money builds.
At the present time there are in
the United States 20,741 miles of
roads improved either wholly or in
part by state aid This is nearly
! the mileage of the French routes
nationales, the system of great nat
ional highways which is the envy of
every civilized nation. The routes
inationales are, of course, only q
small part of the total mileage OF
France, where practically every road
Iof any importance is an improved
road, and France is vastly smaller
country, both in area and in popu
lation than the United States, so tha
this comparison is not, in itself, very
aattering to our progressiVeness. I
shows, however, that we have a
least made a beginning. OF the 2,
226,S42 miles of roads in the Unit
ed States, 223,774 miles, or approx
mately 10 per cent, are classed a
improved.
To improve the remaining 80 pc
S cent. may well seem a big job.
> is, IN fact, only made possible be
cause the work really pays for it
self. From materials gathered by tn,
u. S. department of agriculture, it i
now possible to prove not only tha
: good roads are a profitable invest
ment. but to determine exactly wna
: ; dividends they pay. An investiga
. tor assigned to this problem in an
. given locality first aseertains the ez
: tent of the territory that is tributar
9 to any main road, much as one Nigh
: ascertain the territory tributary t
: some river. The next step is an az
. curate estimate of the total product
. of this territory; so much grain. S
: much tobacco, so much garden truck
= etc. Of this quantity certain Dol
. ton is consumed on the. farm; tn
: rest is shipped over the road in cues
ton. The whole calculation can the
: be checked by investigators at tn
$, shipping point to which the roa
leads. In general it has been foun