The McDowell times. [volume] (Keystone, W. Va.) 1904-1941, 1917-02-09
ROAD
BUILDING
COST OF ROADS AND BRIDGES
Construction Expenditures Have In.
creased Nearly FourfoId IN the
Past Twelve Years

prepared by the United States Depart
ment Of Agrl, ultuTeD
Expenditures for the CONSTRUCTION Of
roads aud bridges IA the United States
have Increased nearly fourfoId in th..
past twelve y''ar>. while "a greater and
greater Proportion of the amounts ~
pended hns" come To- he paid out un-
der state >uI'erN i>ion. AT TN. same
time there has been "A marked de. r., -.
ia the Proportion of contributions To-
road building Ina the form of statute
labor These facts arr brought out by
statistics Recently complied by Ia. Of
lice of Public Roads and Enyinr-rir.
"f the United States department. OF NJ
rirulture.
The total length Of public roads I'm
The United States outside thu. limits of
Incorporated towns and cities WAS
about 2i52.vD miles on January |.
1916 OF this. about ..77.UsD miles. or
lib per cent. were inn rov..,i with snrn..
form ~ surfnring. The mileage Of sur
faced roads has been Increasing nj The.
rate Of about i6.'up miles year. aud
ia 1910 approximately one-half Of thi~
Increase WAS made under the super,i>-
ion Of state highway departments. H.
addition these departments supervised
the maintenance of nearly 53.UsD mii..>
OF main and trunk-lin,. roads.
TIA" Increase in expenditures for
road and bridge work I'm the United
States has been from approximately
S>i'fspsp per year i'm 1904 To- about
S2>2"noD in 1913. an increase eli
more than Ia per cent. Tn. exlr.ndi
ture Of state funds during this sam.
period increased from about S2.sDUsl
To more than $53.VO.Oo0. In addition
more than S27.sDO.OD 81 local funds
was spent under state supervision in
1918. bringing the total road and
hridS" Expenditures managed by tn.
states To- S~D5l4.Go This amount j.
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
rnIid. The first Of these sxencies WIS
''r'-ttr'i Ina lS9l in New Jersey and now
some form OF highway department ex-
South Carolina and Texas. Since their
inception these departments had ex-
pended To January l. 1916. an aggr,-
.at" 81 $50 30 ~ in state funds for
road and bridge construction. min
cnanc~. AMI administration. They had
constructed over JsbvO miles Of rondS
"A cooperation with the states. More.
han 5000 miles of these roads were
surfaced.
The falling OF In the value OF road
work performed 10y statute and convict
labor WIS from S3OO0.OoO in 1904
when the total road expenditures wer.
S>DtsOWO. To about $l5VOVO n
l3lJ when the total expenditures hac
crown To S3s2eO.OcO This was "A r.
.iueiinn from - per cent Of the tota
ia the former year To less than 5iz pei
cent OF the total i'm 1919.
An Increase i'm the Use Of better and
more expensive types Of roads also 4,
~h"wn by the recently complied sta
ti>ticS. This devcI,smcnt has been du,
"a lnrge part. To the great increaS.. ir
automobile traffic. Ii il estimated thai
there are now approximately two an,
a half million automobiles In use of
the r"nd> Of the country. or one cat
for every mile 81 road. This preSen
motor traffic Is in excess OF traffic q
| all sorts l. years ago.
The cash road and bridge expendi
lures of the United States average,
only SIS per mile 81 rural roads %
1904. Ia 1915 this average had grow
To 800 per mile. New Jersey led al
other states both In 1904 and I'm 1915
with <22l and S475 per mile respective
~. Nevada made the least expendi
ture In both years-S3.72 per mile a
1904 and <I7 per mile In 1915.