Jasper County Democrat, Volume 18, Number 15, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 29 May 1915 — UNITED STATES ROADS. [ARTICLE]

UNITED STATES ROADS.

Complete Information on Mileage, Character and Cost of Our Highways Being Collected. The department is now gathering information which, when complete, should not only give the total mileage of public roads in the United States and their cost, but should serve as a basis for estimating the relative value of the different kinds of highways. Some 15,000 sets of inquiry blanks have already been distributed through the state highway commissions, and some of these are now beginning to come back to the department. Each set consists of four cards. Of these the first asks for information on the mileage of different classes of roads in the county to which it is sent. The mileage does not include, of course, streets in cities and towns. The roads are divided into 10 classes, as follows: Brick paved, concrete, macadam with the addition of some substance such as asphalt, oil, or tar; plain macadam, gravel, shell, other hard surfaced roads, sand and clay mixture properly graded and drained, ordinary earth roads properly constructed, and, finally, unimproved roads. The second card asks for information in regard to the tax rate for the roads and the amount of work and money expended on them. The third blank is concerned with the names of local road officials, and the fourth with facts in regard to the bond issues arid the indebtedness of the counties for their road systems.

As there are approximately 3,000 counties in Hhe United States, in many of which the mileage has never been estimated, it is hardly probable that this preliminary survey will be exact. The department, however, will be able to detect any excessively inaccurate reports, for the road mileage per square mile of territory does not vary excessively. Except in. desert or undeveloped country, less than half a mile of public road to every square mile of territory is rare, while in the most thickly populated rural sections the maximum is no more than 2% or 3 miles. Thus, in France there is an average for the entire country of 1.7 Gto a square mile. In Italy, however, this has fallen to 0.86, possibly on account of the mountainous character of much of the peninsula and of Sicily and Sardinia.

In America the average is approximately 0.86 mile, which, in view of the fact that much of the country is sparsely settled, seems

unduly high. An explanation, howevt r, is to be found in the fact that in many states the law provides that each section line shall be a public road. Th;.s, for example, there are in the state of lowa alone more han 104,000 miles of legal -highwavs, manifestly a much larger mileage than is required by traffic. When the information in regard to the existing roads which the department is now seeking is complete, it is the intention to continue the inquiry year after year in order to ascertain the durability and economy of the various kinds of highways. The data thus collected should be useful to road engineers all over the country, and it is hoped that county agents and others interested in improvement of agriculture will do their best to facilitate the collection of the desired information.—U. S. Dept, of Agriculture News Letter.'