360 ANNUAL REPORTS OF DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



department and tentatively approved by the Secretary. Most of 

 the suggestions made by the State highway officials were incorpor- 

 ated in the final draft of the rules and regulations, which were 

 accordingly issued on September 1, 1916. 



The most important outcome of this Federal legislation was the 

 enactment of State laws providing effective State control of a large 

 measure of road work, snaking funds available to meet the Federal 

 appropriations, systematizing the work so that there might be 

 definite and correlated results instead of haphazard construction, 

 and finally, strengthening very greatly the States' participation in 

 road maintenance. At the time the Federal act w^as passed, the 

 States of Delaware, Georgia, South Carolina, Indiana, Texas, and 

 Nevada had no semblance of a State highway department, and it 

 Avas ascertained that the States of Florida^ Arkansas, Oklahoma, 

 Michigan, Missouri, Kansas, South Dakota, Idaho, and Wyoming 

 would require additional legislation in order that their highw^ay 

 departments could perform the functions contemplated by the Fed- 

 eral aid road act. By the close of the fiscal year 1917 every State 

 in the Union had a State highway department within the meaning 

 of the Federal aid road act and had given adequate assent to the 

 terms of the act. For this beneficial result in organization the 

 Federal aid road act must be considered mainly responsible. 



At the time of the passage of the act there were 33 States which 

 had made provision for definite highway systems, embracing the 

 important roads of the State, established by law or by authority of 

 the State highway department. Since that time seven States have 

 established or authorized the establishment of such definite systems 

 of highways. 



During the calendar j^ear 1916 the total expenditure of funds under 

 State supervision for construction was $19,881:,155 ; for maintenance, 

 $18,452,861 ; and for all highway purposes a total of $74,495,554, of 

 which $40,969,001 were State funds. Very greatly increased State 

 appropriations were made as a direct result of the passage of the 

 Federal act. The calendar year 1917 would of course not register 

 the full measure of increase, as some of the appropriations to meet 

 the Federal aid road act were not made until the spring of 1917, but 

 it is estimated that the agregate expenditures of State funds for the 

 calendar year 1917 will be $60,000,000 as compared with $40,969,001 

 for 1916. A number of States have made specific appropriations to 

 meet Federal aid dollar for dollar. Among these may be mentioned 

 New York, Illinois, Michigan, Rhode Island, Nevada, Iowa, Florida, 

 and Vermont. 



While the Federal act was not exacting in the matter of requiring 

 maintenance assurances, it is gratifying to state that through the 

 cordial cooperative spirit of the State officials a great amount of 

 excellent maintenance legislation was enacted, following the passage 

 of the Federal act. While in 1916 provision existed for State partici- 

 pation in road maintenance in 33 States, in 1917, 42 States had made 

 such provision. 



From an engineering and construction standpoint one of the results 

 of the Federal act and of the rules and regulations has been a 

 standardization of form and arrangement for highway plans and 

 specifications. This should in time prove of great value, not only 



