ROADS AND BRIDGES 



291 



NOTES BY MAURICE O. ELDRIDGE 



COST DATA 



It is impossible to fix a price at which certain types of roads can 

 be built. A macadam road which may be constructed in one 

 part of the country for three thousand dollars per mile cannot 

 be duplicated in another part of the country for less than ten 

 thousand dollars per mile. The cost of roads varies with cost 

 of labor, teams and materials, the distance the materials are 

 hauled, amount of grading done, etc. On some roads the grading 

 will cost as much as all of the other items entering into the cost 

 of the road, while on another road of the same type there may 

 be no rough grading at all. The cost of labor on roads varies 

 all the way from seventy-five cents to two dollars per day in the dif- 

 ferent parts of the country. In many places materials can be 

 secured gratis, but in others they have to be paid for by the 

 ton or cubic yard. Suitable materials are frequently found imme- 

 diately adjacent to the road to be made, but in many instances, 

 materials have to be brought long distances by rail or boat. 



The rates charged for hauling road materials by the railroads in 

 some of the middle western states are given below. The rate given 

 for Iowa is the same as that charged for soft or slack coal, which 

 is the lowest rate given for any material. 



Railroad Rates on Road Materials 

 Rate per 2000 pounds 



The cost of hauling rock from the crusher or the railroad station 

 to the road, measured one way, is usually about twenty-five cents 

 per cubic yard per mile. If the rock is being hauled from bins 

 where the stone is loaded into wagons automatically, about seven 

 or eight cents per cubic yard should be added to the total cost of 

 hauling for loading and unloading, lost time, etc. If the rock is 

 hauled from the railroad station, about fifteen cents per cubic 

 yard should be added for loading and unloading, lost time, etc. 



A wide difference in the cost of roads is shown by the following 

 table, which gives the total cost of roads constructed under the 

 direction of the Office of Public Roads of the United States Depart- 

 ment of Agriculture in several different states during the year 

 1904-05. 



