The Pulaskian., 1917-01-12
ROAD DING
COST OF ROADS AND BRIDGES
Construction Expenditures Have In. creased Nearly Fourfoid in the
 Past Twelve Years.
Prepared by the United States Denar.-
 ment of Agricuiture.l


 ment of Agricuiture.)
 Expenditures for the construction os roads and bridges in the United Statas have increased nearly fourfoId in tha past twelve years, while a greater and greater proportion of the amounts ex. pended have come to be paid out m. der state supervision. At the sama time there has been marked decrease in the proportion of contributions to road building in the form of statuta labor. These facts are brought out by statistics recently compiled by the of- fee of Public Roads and Engineering of the United States department of sg- riculture.
 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 January l. 1916. Of this, about 277,00O miles, or 11.3 per cent, were improved with some form of surfaeing. The mileage of sur faced roads has been increasing at the rate of about 16,000 miles a year, and in 1915 approximately one-half of this increase was made under the supervis- ion of state highway departments. In addition these departments supervised the maintenance of nearly 5000 miles of main and trunk-Iine roads.
 The increase in expenditures for road and bridge work in the United States has been from approximately SS0,O00,000 per year in 1904 to about $292, 100000 in 1915, an increase of more than 250 per cent. The expendi- ture of state funds during this same period increased from about $2,500,000 to more than S53,O00,OOO In addition, more than 27,0O0,000 of local funds was spent under state supervision in 1915, bringing the total road and bridge expenditures managed by the states to 80,514,699. 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 department ex- ists in every state except Indiana, South Carolina and Texas. Since their inception these departments had ex- | pended to January l, 1916, an aggre- gate of S265, 1925 in state funds for road and bridge construction, main- teGance, and administration. They had constructed over 5000O 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 $20,000.000 in 1904, when the total road expenditures were $S0,0O0,0O0, to about $15,000,000 in 1915 when the total expenditures had grown to $2S2 100000. This was re- duction from 25 per cent of the total in the former year to less than 51a 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 increase in automobile traffic. It is estimated that there are now approximately two and a half million automobiles in use on the roads of the country, or one car for every mile of road. This present motor traffic is in excess of traffic of all sorts F years ago.
 The cash road and bridge expendi. lures of the United States averaged only $28, 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 S221 and S475 per mile respective ly. Nevada made the least expendi- ture in both years-$3.72 per mile in 1904 and S17 per mile in 1915.