REPORT OF THE SECRETARY. 153 



It is a curious coincidence that the introduction of the motor vehicle 

 at about the time when these changes in administration began has 

 brought about traffic conditions which have necessitated an equally 

 radical departure from old methods of construction and maintenance. 

 It will thus be seen that the entire subject of road improvement, in- 

 volving administration, construction, and maintenance, is passing 

 through an exceedingly important period, in which the educational 

 and scientfic work of this branch of the Government service should 

 prove of the greatest value. 



OBJECT-LESSON AND EXPERIMENTAL ROADS. 



During the past year the Office of Public Roads has continued giv- 

 ing instruction in the methods of road building peculiarly adapted to 

 each locality. This instruction has been given through the medium 

 of object-lesson roads, built at local expense, under the supervision 

 of an engineer from the Office. That results of considerable magni- 

 tude have been accomplished under this project is shown by the fact 

 that during the past fiscal year there were completed 1,007,570 square 

 yards of road, equivalent to about 114 miles of road 15 feet wide, as com- 

 pared with 690,000 square yards for the previous fiscal year. Viewed 

 as a construction record alone, this would constitute an excellent 

 showing, but, when it is considered that this mileage was made up of 

 55 object-lesson roads, each constituting a miniature school of road 

 building, comprising 10 distinct types of construction, it must be evi- 

 dent that this feature of the Department's work is a powerful factor 

 in the promotion of the movement for the betterment of the public 

 roads. 



It is the practice of the Office to inspect from time to time the various 

 object-lesson and experimental roads, and to ascertain what has been 

 the effect of their construction upon the locality. Last year 22 ob- 

 ject-lesson roads, aggregating about 22 miles, were inspected, and it 

 was found upon the actual reports of the local officials in charge that 

 these 22 short sections of road had directly resulted in the building 

 of 730 miles of additional roads according to the same method, and 

 had brought about the expenditure, through bond issues, of 

 $1,500,000. 



ADVISORY WORK. 



The advisory work of tlie Office during the year covered a wide 

 field, relating to construction of various types of road, surveys, use 

 of convicts in road work, bridge construction, maintenance, use of 

 the split-log drag, road materials, effect of automobiles on roads, the 

 issuance of bonds for road improvement, the drainage of roads, and 

 other work along similar lines. In all, about 250 assignments were 

 made under this project, showing an increase of about 70 per cent 

 over the amount of work performed during the preceding fiscal year. 

 This is a satisfactory showing, not alone because of the increased 



