The Manchester journal. [volume] (Manchester, Vt.) 1861-current, 1915-09-09
The County Highway Situation

The association has co-operated
with the State Highway Department
in the improvement Of roads through
out the county by supplementing the
the salary Of the supervisor of high
ways paid by the state sufficiently to
secure the services Of civil engineer
for this position, James L. Davis.
The work done has followed the
same lines as in previous years but
with higher standards in both main
tenance and construction than would
have been thought practicable in this
county few years ago. The general
policy of the state department OF i'm
proving the worst places on the state
roads in each town first has been car
ried out. This often results in SEEM
ingly unnecessary scattering Of the
work in small patches, but after the
eight or ten years during which this
policy has been in force the advantage
es Of the method are becoming evident
to all and many of the isolated patches
of improved roads of few years ago
have become connected into continu-
Gus lengths of several miles. Each
town has had its share in this i'm
provement and it may be said there is
remaining on our state roads hardly
one extremely dangerous spot under
modern traffic conditions to dozen
which existed few years ago. The
county has 776 miles Of road of which
206 are state, or selected roads.
Briefly expressed, the laws provide
for state aid in building roads and re-
quire that the towns shall maintain
all roads, both state and town. The
state gives assistance in maintenance
from the income of the automobile
registrations. The funds available for
construction are, first, the per cent
fund, derived from tax Of 5 per
cent on the grand lists of all towns
and cities, which tax is paid into the
state treasury and re-apportioned to
the towns on the basis of road mile
age. This assists in tightening the
burden on the small towns. For ex-
ample, Searsburg's per cent for 1914
was $49.28 and the town received
$128.13 under the apportionment. The
entire county received $6,214.35. Sec
ond, a state appropriation of 100000
annually, is available in sums of be-
tween 500 and $1,000 to towns which
vote to raise an equal amount. In
1914 the towns of the county voted
$7,173.71 which was matched by the
state. We're it practicable for all
towns to vote the limit there would
thus become available from the state
SIT 900 annually. Any portion of the
$4,000 fund which is not required
for matching money voted by the
towns constitutes the Surplus" which
is expended on state roads of special
public Importance on such terms as
the state commissioner may make
with the towns in which such roads
are situated. Also donations by indi-
viduals have been matched from sur
plus, treating such money in the same
manner as town voted money.
For road maintenance two funds are
available. First, the towns are re-
uuired to raise an annual tax of not
less than 20 per cent on the grand
list for the town road commissioner
use. Second, the automobile registra-
ton fees constitute the state mainten-
ance fund which is expended under
the direction of the state commission
err. This is regularly apportioned to
the towns that maintain their roads IN
satisfactory condition on the basis OF
state road mileage. The allowance in
recent years has been $1,000 per
mile. Re-surfacing in cooperation
with the towns, road oiling in villages
and expenses of the patrol system are
also paid from this fund. Any surplus
remaining is expended for mainten-
ance work as special conditions may
require, such as paying more than
half the cost Of re-surfacing in town
having a large mileage of roads used
by through automobile traffic and a
small grand list. In 1914 the county
received S11, 707.08 from this fund.