The Nome daily nugget., 1916-03-18
COST OF ROAD CONSTRUCTION
 ln ALASKA

The report of the years work of the board of road commission CTS for Alaska, of which Colonel 1 w P. Richardson, of the infantry
 arm. to the president, contains the following introductory state ment:
 The board of road commission CTS has been in existence since May IS, 1905, or about ten years, although, by reason of the meager fund available the first season and ! he need for some preliminary
 examination and reconnaissance of routes, its work proper may be said to have begun in the spring of Ioo6.
 During this period there have been constructed and maintained ooI.9 miles of wagon road, 577.5 miles or winter sled road, and It2,2I6.5 miles of trail. In thls work the board has expended $I,48o,413,83 of moneys accruing for road work in the Alaska fund'-originally 70 (now 65) perecest of the tax on liquor li- censes, trade and occupation tax outside incorporated towns-and SI.6oo,ooo of special appropria- tions by congress under the head of Military and post roads, making a total of $3,o8o,4I3.83. It will be noted thak the amount received from the Alaska fund is ;IIo,586I7 less than the total special appropriations by con- 1ress. The board is without sle6nite figures on the receipts from the local road tax law r (which was operative until re- Ipealed by the first Alaska legis- lature), but these, together with some voluntary subscriptions which have been made principal v by the towns of Cordova, Fair banks and Nome, would proba- bly, equal or exceed the difference noted above, thus making the amounts received from federal md territorial sources practically the same.
 After two years experiences the aoard gave he following hgures IS the average cost of tfte differ ent classihcations of roads and trails: Wagon roads, S2,2oo per mile; winter sled road, $25o per mile and trail, $roo per mile. These figures are now in round numbers, S3,ooo for wagon road, S32s for winter sled road; and s1oo or less for trail. This in- :ludes surveys maintenance, and Ill overhead charges since the be- ginning of the work. A few of the more expensive bridges, de- tached ferries, and the tempor- ary stalking of winter trails are carried separately.
 The cost of maintenance of the summer wagon road has been rel atively high, as might be expect ed from the soil and climatic con ditions in Alaska and the type of 7oad (previously described as what would be classed as good country road) to which the board is compelled to adhere on account of limited funds. It is difficult to separate accurately the expendi- lures for construction from those for repair and maintenance, as repair" frequently necessitated
 improvement upon the original construction, but it is safe to say that not to exceed an average of S2,ooo per mile has been spent on construction proper. This amount has been exceeded, nat urally, and even multiplied three or four times, in some instances, whereas in other sections, where the traffic is light and the soil conditions favorable, relatively smaller amounts have been re- quired.
 The. board does not class any of the roads constructed as "au- ;tomobile roads," and has not felt justified in encouraging the use of automobiles upon them. Never th o1acs fhara ,ra so ,,ea ,+ +h;e