Lincoln County times. (Jerome, Idaho) 1911-1919, 1917-07-12
ROAD
Building
COST OF ROADS AND BRIDGES
Construction Expenditures Have In
creased Nearly Fourfold In tho
Past Twelve Years.

prepared by the United States Depart
ment OF Agricultural
Expenditures for the construction OF
roads and bridges in the United States
have Increased nearly fourfold In the
past twelve years. while greater and
greater proportion OF the amounts ex-
pended have come To be paid out I'M
der state supervision. At the same
time there has been II marked decrease
In the proportion OF contributions to
road building In the form OF statute
labor. These facts are brought out by
statistics recently compiled by the Of
nee or Public Roads and Engineering
or the United States department Of AK
riculture
The total length OF public roads In
the United States outside the limits OF
incorporated towns and cities was
about 2,452OOO miles on January l,
1916. or this, about 27i 900 miles, or
ll.S per cent. were improved with some
form or surfacing. The mileage OF sur
faced roads h. been increasing at the
rate OF about 10000 miles year, aud
In 1918 approximately one-.- III OF this
<ASANHoD was QuQtl TIE SuDtTFlS-
lon Of state highway departments. In
addition these departments supervised
the maintenance OF nearly $1,000 miles
or main and trunk-line roads.
The Increase In expenditures for
road and bridge work in the United
States has been from approximately
seOOOO,OOO per year In 1904 to about
s2s2, 100000 In 1915, an Increase OF
more than $50 per cent. The expendi-
ture Of state funds during this same
period Increased from about s., 100000
TO more than S53,OOO,OOO. In addition.
more than s27,OOO,OO0 of local funds
was spent under state supervision In
1915, bringing the total road aud
bridge expenditures managed by the
states to SS0,514.699 This amount L.
greater than the total expenditures for
roads and bridges from all sources la
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 department ex-
lists In every state except Indiana,
South Carolina and Texas. Since their
inception these departments had ex-
pended TO January /, 1915, an aggre-
gate of 500 ,3oO,S25 in state funds for
road and bridge construction, main
tenance, 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 convict
labor was from $20.OOO,OOO In 1904.
when the total road expenditures were
SSOOOO,O00, to about $15,OOO.OOO In
1913 when the total expenditures had
grown to $2S2 100000 This was re-
ductlon from 20 per cent of the total
In the former year to less than 5is per
cent of the total In 1918.
An Increase in the use OF better and
more expensive types of roads also IL
shown by the recently compiled sta,
tistics. This development has been due
In large part, to the great Increase In
automobile traffic. Ii Is estimated that
there are now approximately two and
half million automobiles In use on
the ronds of the country. or one cur
for every mile of road. This present
motor traffic is In excess of traffic of
all sorts II 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 SlO3 per mile. New Jersey led all
other states both In 1904 and In 1915.
with S221 and S475 per mile respective
ly. Nevada made the least expendl-
ture In both years-$3.72 per mile In
1904 and SIT per mile In 1915.