FOKEST SERVICE. 



191 



Supplementary agreements were found necessary in nearly all 

 cases. In several instances the purpose of the supplementary agree- 

 ment was to give the department control over the starting and stop- 

 ping of construction w ork so as to avoid any possibility of interfering 

 with the prosecution of the war. The remaining agreements were 

 occasioned by the increased cost of the work. In some cases changes 

 in the terms of the original agreements were made so as to lessen the 

 amount of work to be done by reducing the standard of construction 

 or the length of the project. In other cases, an increase was made 

 either in the percentage of Federal cooperation or in the amounts 

 which the cooperators agreed to expend. Naturally, considerable 

 time was lost in negotiating these supplementary agreements and in 

 endeavoring to let work by contract. In a large number of cases, 

 therefore, the construction season was well advanced before contracts 

 were let or the decision made that work must either be done by day 

 labor or be indefinitely postponed. 



The administrative action during the fiscal year on projects 

 approved under section 8 of the Federal aid road act is indicated in 

 the following tabulation : 



Federal aid road act projects. 



At the end of the fiscal year 43 projects were under cooperative 

 agreement, involving the survey of 1,061.85 miles and the construc- 

 tion of 664.15 miles. The estimated cost of this work is $2,779,620, 

 of which the Government's share is $1,347,554. In addition to the 

 above, five projects involving the use of the 10 per cent fund were 

 under formal cooperative agreement. These covered the survey of 

 43.84 miles and the construction of 54.56 miles at an estimated total 

 cost of $152,550, of which the Federal share is $84,509. While a 

 considerable percentage of cooperation is obtained in the 10 per cent 

 work, the greater part of the projects are not covered by written 

 agreements. 



In selecting the projects for work during the calendar year 1918, 

 great care was exercised to eliminate all which would tend to inter- 

 fere with the prosecution of the war. The construction of several 



