The weekly times-record. (Valley City, N.D.) 1912-1922, 1916-10-05
How Road and Bridge
Expenditures Increase

Washington, Oct. 2.-Rapid increase
in total expenditures for roads and
bridges, growth of building and main
tenance activities under state super
vision, and a sharp decrease in the
proportion of contributions in the
form of statute labor mark the devel-
opment Of highway work in the Unit
ed States during the past II years.
These facts are brought out by statis-
tics for the calendar year 1915 recent
ly compiled by the Office Of public
roads and rural engineering of the U.
S. department of agriculture.
The total length of public roads in
the United States outside the limits
of incorporated towns and cities was
about 2,452,O00 miles on Jan. l, 1915.
Of this, about 277,000 miles, or 11.3
per cent were improved with some
form of surfacing. The mileage of
surfaced roads has been increasing at
the rate of about $4,000 miles a year,
and in 1915 approximately one-half of
this increase was made under the SUI
pervision of state highway depart
ments. In addition these departments
supervised the maintenance of nearly
$4,000 miles of main and trunk line
roads.
The increase in expenditures for
road and bridge work in the United
States has been from approximately
$8O,000,000 per year in 1904 to about
$282, 100000 in 1915, an increase of
more than $53,OOO,OOO. In addition,
more than $27,000,0OO of local funds
was spent under state supervision in
1915, bringing the total road and
bridge expenditures managed by the
states to $8O,514,699. This amount is
greater than the total expenditures
for roads and bridges from all sources
in 1904.
The growth in Importance of the
state highway departments has been
rapid. The first of these agencies
was created in 1891 in New Jersey
and now some form of highway depart
ment exists in every state except In
diana, South Carolina, and Texas.
Since their inception these depart
ments had expended to Jan. /, 1916, an
aggregate Of $265,350,825 in state
funds foar road and bridge construc-
tion, maintenance and administration.
They had constructed over $4,000
miles of roads in cooperation with
the states. More than 10000 miles of
these roads were surfaced.
The falling off in the value of road
work performed by statute and con.
vict labor was from $4,000, 900 in 1904,
when the total road expenditures were
jSO, 100000, to about $15,00O,000 in
1915, when the total expenditures had
grown to $282,000,000. This was re-
duction from Is per cent of the total
in the former year to less than five
and half per cent Of the total in 1915.
An increase in the use of better and
more expensive types of roads also is
shown by the recently compiled sta
tistics. This development has been
due, in large part, to the great in
crease in automobile traffic. 1t is
estimated that there are now approx
mately 2 and half million automo-
biles in use on the roads of the coun-
try, or one car for every mile of road.
This present motor traffic Is in excess
of traffic of all sorts IL years ago.
, The cash road and bridge expendi-
lures of the United States averaged
only $2S per mile of rural roads in
1904. In 1915 this average had grown
to $109 per mile. New Jersey led all
other states both in 1904 and in 1915
with 1921 and $475 per mile respec.
lively. Nevada made the least expen.
diture in both years-$3.72 per mile in
1904 and e$17 per mile in. 1915.