The Bismarck tribune. [volume] (Bismarck, N.D.) 1916-current, 1925-08-10
N. ID. HIGHWAY
CONSTRUCTION
COST LOWEST
Continued from page onc)

tSOntlnueu from page OnC)
age Of roads declared open by the
various counties, seven per cent of
which. or 7.AA miles. constitutes the
federal aid highway system.
Take Road Census e.
This would leave $500 miles to
be considered as local highways. OBJ
vIonsly many of these roads are very
seldom used and the roads upon
which there is any travel whatso-
ever may be considerably reduced.
Perhaps 10000 miles would be as
good a guess as any other. A CEN
sus Of roads now is being made by
the highway department but the fig
urcs are not yet available.
ANYONE can exercise his individ-
ual judgment AS to how many of
these 10000 miles received any ut
tcntion in the way Of Improvement
or maintenance. Because it makes
computation easy let us assume that
the county and township officers are
giving some attention to 10000 miles.
This would mean that during the
last seven years 1000, on the aver
age. was expended on every mile and
the bridges thereon.
Counties Open Roads
II am mindful, however, Of the
large mileage of roads opened and
improved at various times by the
counties and proper credit should be
given the boards Of county commits
sioners. 1t has been necessary in
the past for counties to provide high
ways covering large sections and it
would have been impractical for them
to have expended their entire funds
on the federal aid system. In many
eases it was impractical for them to
thus cxpcnd any of their funds"
The state highway commission has
paid out, and uow has under con-
struction sd,9ll .06l Ga. which includes
federal aid, state aid and the coun.
ties shares, Mr.. Black said.
Include Cost Of Bridge
This data includes the cost of the
Liberty Bridge over the Missouri
river between Bismarck and Mandan
which was $l,35S, 1851. Burlcigh
and Morton counties contributed
s243, l26.12 of that amount. Deduct
ing the latter figure from the total
spent, Black shows that $4,G97,945.52
aid road construction from 1913 to
January /, 1925.
During that time 1896 miles Of
of which $50 miles arc gravclcd and
six miles concrete pavement. The
average cost to the counties was
about $l,986.60 per mile and about
onc-third of the total is gravelcd..
IN, 10000 Cars
''In 1912 there were 5000 automo-
blcs in the state. In 1916 there
were 40.447. an increase of AGA
per cent? Between 1916 and 1926
cars increased in number 1884 per
cent o an average Of 1862 per cont
a year. 1t is estimated that 10000
cars will be registered in 1925, an
increase of 10 per cent over 1924. All
of which shows that car owners are
annually increasing and that many
more people arc demanding better
roads.
"Anothcr angle to the problem is
furnished by the annual consumption
Of gasoline as disclosed by the re.
turns from the tax thereon" said
Mr.. Black. "Sincc 1922 gasoline con-
sumption has increased 43.7 per cent.
It may be affirmed conservatively
not only that car owners are increas-
ing at the rate of 10 per cent year
but that road use or mileage, as re-
Elected in the gasoline tax is in
creasing at the rate of 20 per 'cent
a year. Hence the larger the num-
her of car owners and the greater the
use Of our highways. the more insist
cnt will ~grow the demand for qpod
roads"
-: Hit Stride in 1920 =
The highway commission reached
its stride in 1920, Black said, and
since that time has expended about
$4,000. 900 annually. including fed
craf and state aid.
At the present rate Of progress, H.
pointed out. il would require rs years
to grade the state highway system
Of 7.434 miles and 40 years before it
would all be graYcled.