OFFICE OF PUBLIC ROADS AND RUEAL ENGINEERING. 315 



One experimental oil-coralline rock road at Buena Vista, Fla., 

 was completed. Plans were prepared and contracts let for construct- 

 ing a section of the Mount Vernon Eoad, 4| miles in length, and a 

 section of the Russell Road, about three- fourths mile in length, both 

 in Alexandria county, Va. Twenty-six experimental sections are be- 

 ing constructed on these two roads and a detailed description of 

 them will be given in a special circular which will be issued about 

 March 1, 1916. 



POST EOADS. 



Of the 17 post-road projects mentioned in the last annual report 

 as having been selected by the Postmaster General and the Secretary 

 of Agriculture pursuant to the provisions of the Post Office appro- 

 priation act of August 24, 1912, but one had been completed. Work 

 was continued this year on these roads, and five were completed, as 

 follows: Iowa, Boone and Story Counties; Maryland, Montgomery 

 County; Oregon, Jackson County; Virginia, Fairfax County; and 

 Virginia, Spotsylvania, Caroline, and Hanover Counties. The total 

 length of the five completed this year is 153 miles. Work progressed 

 satisfactorily on the remaining 11 roads, practically all of which were 

 75 per cent completed at the close of the fiscal year. The appropria- 

 tion act provided that a detailed report of this project should be 

 made to Congress, which will be done as soon as all the roads are 

 completed. 



BRIDGE WOBK. 



Bridge designs were prepared for the following locations: Cali- 

 fornia, 1; Kentucky, 6; North Carolina, 1; South Carolina, 5; and 

 Virginia, 2. General designs and specifications for steel bridges pre- 

 pared by State highway departments, also designs prepared by 

 bridge companies for local communities, were examined and reviewed 

 as an assistance to local officials. Nineteen inspections were made 

 during the fiscal year 1915, in connection with which local officials 

 were advised regarding their problems on bridges and culverts. 



COUNTY EOAD SYSTEMS. 



Systems of roads were planned and recommendations made as to 

 the best methods of improving them for the following counties : Cal- 

 casieu Parish, La., Alachua County, Fla., and Albemarle County, Va. 



SUPERINTENDENCE OF COUNTY ROADS. 



To demonstrate the advantages derived by having road construc- 

 tion supervised by a skilled highway engineer, a senior highway engi- 

 neer in charge of a post road in Fairfax County has, in cooperation 

 with the State highway department of Virginia, also supervised the 

 construction of about 31 miles of gravel road in that county. 



INSPECTION AND ADVICE. 



Engineers were assigned to study specific road problems and to 

 give advice relative to their solution to local officials as follows 

 Arizona, 1; Colorado, 1; Georgia, 1; Indiana, 4; Kentucky, 2; Louisi- 

 ana, 4 ; Maine, 1 ; Maryland, 1 ; Massachusetts, 1 ; Mississippi, 1 

 Missouri, 1; Nebraska, 1; North Carolina, 2; Oklahoma, 2; Pennsyl 

 vania, 1 ; Rhode Island, 1 ; South Carolina, 1 ; Tennessee, 3 ; Texas, 4 



