Jasper County Democrat, Volume 19, Number 65, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 11 November 1916 — ANNUAL COST OF MAINTENANCE [ARTICLE]

ANNUAL COST OF MAINTENANCE

Business Method of Determining the Figures of Road Costs. The travel over a road wears it out in different ways, according to the number and character of the vehicles, the relative proportion of horse-drawn vehicles and automobiles, the climatic conditions and the construction of the road. For the same travel, a road adapted for a moist section with cold winters is needlessly expensive for a dry section with, little frost. Some types of roads wear out quickly- but are easily maintained; other types withstand travel well but when they need repairs the work is expensive. All these things must be considered in determining the annual cost of a road, which is done in the follow-

ing way: The first element of this cost is the first cost of construction per mile of road, including all engineering expenses. Knowing the travel over the road, an expert can estimate the number of years such a road will serve its purpose, if properly maintained, before reconstruction is necessary. This cost divided by the number of years of service gives the annual first cost. To this must be added the annual interest on the first cost per mile and the annual payment into a fund which will be enough to reconstruct a mile of the road when it is worn out, or to retire the bonds that are sometimes issued to pay for the first cost. The annual cost per mile of maintaining the road in serviceable condition is the last item to be estimated. The sum. of all these items is the total cost per mile of the road, and this figure is the most important one to the taxpayers. But another unit for measuring cost, •which is sometimes very useful, is the cost of the road per vehicle mile. This is obtained by dividing the total annual cost per mile by the number of vehicles using the road annually. The type of construction which gives the lowest cost per vehicle mile is generally the best to employ.—Southern Good Roads.