Jasper County Democrat, Volume 19, Number 29, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 8 July 1916 — Raising Road Funds by Bond Issue [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

Raising Road Funds by Bond Issue

Benefits from Good Roads Cannot Be Overestimated—Necessity for Expert Supervision (Prepared by the U. S. Department of Agriculture)

Of the various methods of financing road projects the one most generally practiced for raising a substantial fund which will be available for immediate expenditure is through the Issuance oi bonds. Experience, say the road specialists of the department, has shown good roads to be a sound investment, both from a business and economic standpoint. If properly proportioned and managed bond issues are made for their improvement, the roads themselves will pay off the indebtedness thus created through the utility which they afford and the saving which will result in the cost of hauling. Some Reasons for Failure. Instances are not lacking where bond Issues for highway purposes have proved failures. These failures are due to mismanagement rather than to defective principle. Where counties have issued highway bonds the proceeds of which have been spent to construct temporary road surfaces

on unimproved grades and without proper drainage, failure has necessarily resulted. There are on record in the department of agriculture instances showing where the so-called macadam roads have been built with bond money by simply dumping broken stone at the wrong time of year on muddy surfaces without grades or alignments and without rolling or binding. Investment of money in new roads does not become real economy until provision is made for keeping these new roads in condition by maintenance and repair after they are built. Through a misunderstanding of the essential principles underlying the establishment of a proper country road system, conflicts of interest sometime arise which cause the failure of the bond-issue plan. The location of the roads to be improved shqpld not be determined by argument, but upon sound engineering and economic principles. Before a community votes to issue bonds for highways it is necessary to study thoroughly what roads ought to be improved, and the approximate cost of their construction

and maintenance. Too frequently illadvised locations are adopted. Need for Highway Engineers. Highway plans for bond Issues require expert skill and professional service. Before the amount of bonds is determined, a thorough study of the needs of the county should be made and careful maps of the proposed highway system should be prepared. The sum to be issued should not be fixed until it is reasonably known what it will accomplish. It is customary for many counties to appoint a commission of business men under whose Jurisdiction the bond money is expended. In other cases the county supervisor or county commissioner has the direction of expenditures. The best results have always followed where such commissions or county boards have secured the services of a competent highway engineer. Guided by the costly experience of

many communities, it is now becoming common for counties to adopt this plan. In all engineering construction it is customary to allow a certain per centage of the cost for engineering and supervision. There is no reason why highway building should be made an exception to this rule. At least five per cent of the bond issue may well be set aside for engineering and supervision alone. Money spent to hire a competent engineer to make preliminary investigations before bonds are issued and to plan and supervise construction will be well spent. It is not uncommon to find counties that will repeatedly postpone the sale of bonds in order to obtain an increase of one per cent in a bid for SIOO,OOO or less and then proceed to construct the roads in a most haphazard and illplanned manner.

The split log drag has contributed more toward the economic maintenance of public highways than any implement of modern usage. A drag can be built or purchased for S2O and is easily operated by anyone who can drive a team.

Using Drag, Dunn, North Carolina.

Laying First Course, Poplar Springs Road, Meridian, Mississippi.

Elevating Grader at Work.