Report of State Highivay Engineer. 53 



enty-five foot concrete bridge. The roads are most all graded, some 

 very well, and the main ones kept dragged under the supervision 

 of the superintendent. All the hills have been cut until there is 

 not a bad grade remaining within the district. While the hard 

 surfacing is second-class work, five miles have been surfaced with 

 a chert and gravel strip ten feet wide in the center of the road 

 for about $1,000 per mile. 



LEXINGTON SPECIAL DISTRICT. 



Some of the best road work in the State is in the Lexington 

 special district, Lafayette county. It is a fair example of good 

 work under a road bond issue. This district is eight by eight 

 miles, the Missouri river forming the north boundary and reducing 

 the area of the district from that of a square by cutting in on the 

 northwest corner, and contains about 75 miles of public roads. The 

 district contains very little local rock of roadmaking quality, but 

 some that may be used for base rock, all of it being too soft for the 

 wearing surface. The topography is that usually found along the 

 river bluffs, rolling and broken by small streams flowing into the 

 river. 



The assessed valuation of the district is two and three-fourth 

 million dollars. The annual revenue derived from taxes and saloon 

 licenses is about $12,000. This district was organized November 

 27, 1909, and on March 25, 1910, an election was held to issue $120,- 

 000 of road bonds, which carried by a vote of 1,344 to 237. When 

 the law under which the bond election was held was found to be un- 

 constitutional, the district officials had a new bonding law drawn 

 and passed through the Legislature, and then called another bond 

 election on April 10, 1911, for $125,000, which carried by an in- 

 creased majority. The bonds were issued for fifteen years and were 

 sold at five and one-half per cent at par. The amount of these 

 bonds is a few thousand under the maximum of five per cent of the 

 valuation allowed by law. 



Considering that the valuation remains stationary and that 

 the payment of capital and interest is extended equally over each 

 year, it will require an annual payment of $12,000 to pay off the 

 bonded intebtedness in fifteen years. This would require a levy of 

 about 44 cents on the $100 assessed valuation. It costs the indi- 

 vidual citizen living in Lexington with a business and property as- 

 sessed for taxable purposes at $5,000, an average of $22.00 per 

 year. Or, a farmer owning lands assessed at $15.00 per acre pays 



