BUREAU OF PUBLIC ROADS. 381 



ROAD BUILDING AND MAINTENANCE INVESTIGATION. 



Object-lesson roads were built of sand-clay construction at Tar- 

 boro, N, C. ; top-soil construction in Henry County, Va. ; and gravel 

 construction at Austin, Tex. 



The superintendence of the construction of county roads was con- 

 ducted in Sussex and Albermarle Counties, Va. 



The following-named State highway departments were assisted 

 in various lines of their work: Arkansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, 

 North Carolina, Texas, Virginia, and West Virginia. 



Reports on county road systems were made for Potter and Wheeler 

 Counties in Texas, and Fresno and Merced Counties in California. 



Advice was given in regard to special road problems in Alabama, 

 Arizona, Arkansas, California, Louisiana, Minnesota, Oklahoma, 

 South Carolina, South Dakota, Texas, and Wisconsin. 



Investigations in regard to bond issues were made to comply with 

 the request of the Capital Issues Committee in Jackson County, Ark., 

 Cook and Madison Counties, 111., and Oakland County, Mich. 



The superintendence of the construction of an experimental post 

 road in Dubuque County, Iowa, was completed. 



Engineers w^ere furnished to plan for and superintend the con- 

 struction of the roads in 16 National Army cantonments: at Quan- 

 tico, Va., in connection with the Marine Corps, and at Gunpowder, 

 Md., in connection with the establishment of the Edge wood Arsenal 

 for the Bureau of Ordnance of the War Department. 



One engineer was assigned to assist the Emergency Fleet Corpo- 

 ration in planning for and building the streets in the villages being 

 construct^ by that corporation. 



Designs for bridges were prepared as follows: California, 4; 

 Florida, 1; Idaho, 1; Minnesota, 1; North Carolina, 1; South Caro- 

 lina, 2; Virginia, 2. Engineers were assigned to investigate exist- 

 ing bridges and conditions in relation to proposed bridges in Ken- 

 tucky and Virginia. General designs and specifications which had 

 been prepared by several State highway departments and local of- 

 ficials were examined and reviewed. 



FIELD EXPERIMENTS. 



The section of roadway in the Department of Agriculture grounds 

 between Twelfth Street and Thirteenth Street was constructed as 

 a bituminous macadam road, using quartzite as the mineral aggre- 

 gate. The experimental top-soil road, which was constructed in 

 Prince William County, Va., during the previous year, w-as main- 

 tained, and approximately 30 miles of experimental roads which had 

 been constructed during previous years in Alexandria and Fairfax 

 Counties, Va., and in Montgomery County, Md., were maintained. 



ROAD MANAGEMENT AND ECONOMICS. 



The economic highway survey, inaugurated toward the end of the 

 preceding fiscal year, was continued. The complete maps and text give 

 detailed information on the roads, bridges, and economic conditions 

 in the territory covered by the surveys. The work has proved of 

 greater value than was at first anticipated, as it brings together in a 



