Daily Kennebec journal., 1917-07-17
THE PHTROL MAIN
.TENANCELAW

misunderstanding relative to the Oper-
alton of the Patrol Maintenance law,
so called, the State Highway Com
mission desires to make the following
statement:
The Patrol Maintenance law was en-
acted by the. legislature in 1915 for the
sole purpose of helping each and every
town in the State in maintaining nine
or ten miles Of their principal thor
oughfare and to make it possible for
the state to apportion maintenance
money from the automobile licenses
All the money used for maintenance is
taken from this fund and by adding
the States and towns appropriations
together it makes it possible to have
| sufficient funds to employ man and
team to work regularly some five or
six months during the road building
season.
Ihe patrolman in nearly every in
stance is hired upon recommendation
Of the municipal officers.
The States apportionment in 1916 TO
the towns under patrol was not less
than $4,000 except in a very few in
stances where the towns lad less than
nine miles of road under patrol and in
many towns it was very much more,
where traffic was heavy and either a
large amount of gravel was needed or
bituminous surface treatment was used
! to maintain the road.
The States expenditure in 1916 was
s191, 1902.
Beginning the year 1917 the Highway
Commission apportioned each town on
an average for patrol maintenance
100000 and in addition to this made an
apportionment Of $1,000 to each town
for road machine work, provided the
town would furnish like amount, this
fund of 500 to be used on the section
under patrol maintenance.
Nearly all Of the towns accepted this
offer; a few did not. On an average,
the joint fund in each town is about
s5500o. 1t cannot be expected that any
OF this amount can be used in building
or repairing bridges and culverts or
any other work where a large sum of
money is necessary, because there
would be nothing left to take care of
| the road itself to do such work as a
! patrolman is supposed to do. Instruc-
| ticns to- patrolmen are to drag the
road when the conditions are suitable,
| after each rain, and to rake the rocks,
| fill the depressions and add surfacing
material where it is most needed on
! the section Of road under patrol; ease
| off the bumps over culverts and bridg
es by adding material each side of
them; clean the bitches and culverts,
and keep the bitches on the hills in
such condition as to prevent the water
! from running in the center of the road,
| keep open all the offtake bitches, cut
the bushes around the blind turns. and
! keep the entire length of the section
under the patrolman's charge in the
best possible condition with the
amount of money available
The patrolmen are under immediate
supervision of the district supervisor
who lays out the work with more or
! less assistance from the selectmen.
The supervisor reports to the State
Highway commission on his visit to
! town the condition of the road and the
! instructions he gave the patrolman,
| etc.
In this way, the highway Commission
and the municipal officers and the su-
pervisors are in close touch with the
work at all times. The Highway Com
mission believes that cooperation is
the way to obtain good roads which
the public are demanding more and
more each year, and the Highway
| Commission is making every effort
within their power to help the towns
in the way Of money. supervision and
cooperation.
Nearly all of the towns have shown a
willingness to cooperate in creating a
Joint fund of the States and town s
money and to employ a patrolman to
| maintain and improve the main thor
oughfare. This the Highway Comrnis-
! sion appreciates.
In the towns of Acton, Amherst,
| Alexander, Aurora, Beddington, Bel
! mont, Centerville, Charlotte, Clifton.
Crawford, Deblois, Grafton, Grand
Lake Stream, Jonesboro, Kenduskeag,
Lebanon, Liberty, Limington, Liver
more. Mariaville. Marion, Meddybemps,
/ Mortified. Princeton, Sweden. Wales.
West Gardiner. Wesley, Weston and
Whitneyville the Highway Commission
as vet has been unable to make an
agreement with the municipal officers
in regard to patrol maintenance. Con-
sequently. the. Highway Commission
| should not be held responsible Tor the