Rural Roads 



Montana State Highway Commission, Through the Use 



of Federal, State and County Funds, is Gradually 



Building Permanent Agricultural Thoroughfares 



to Serve All Parts of the State 



RGANIZED in May, 1917, and empowered to secure for the state 

 the benefits of the Federal Aid Road Act, the Montana State 

 Highway Commission has already received applications from 

 thirty-one counties for the improvement of fifty-two federal aid 

 road projects involving an estimated total expenditure of 

 $1,400,000.00. Final plans and specilications for many of these 

 projects have already been prepared by the commission and 

 transmitted to the Secretary of Agriculture for approval. The 

 projects that have reached this state of completion in every instance provide 

 for the improvement of agricultural haulage roads. And while the elimination 

 of tourist roads is primarily a war policy, the commission will continue to 

 approve from counties that suggest the improvement of post roads that are used 

 also for the transportation of agricultural produce. To assist the counties to 

 derive the full benefit of federal aid the commission makes surveys, plans and 

 specifications and furnishes supervision without expense to the counties. This 

 will enable the several counties to secure a dollar's worth of road work for every 

 half dollar expended by them. 



The federal government has appropriated a total of $1,470,000 to be expended 

 over a period of five years for the improvement of post roads in Montana, subject 

 to certain conditions. To meet these conditions and pass the benefits directly to 

 the counties the State Highway Commission requested the boards of county com- 

 missioners to suggest designations for state highways in their respective counties 

 (federal aid being restricted to such highways) and these suggestions were recon- 

 ciled and adopted as a tentative system of state highways. 



As was to be expected, in nearly every instance the county commissioners 

 suggested important local agricultural roads; and since these designated highways 

 are those leading to and connecting market centers the federal authorities have 

 approved the system of roads suggested and the program of improvement submitted 

 by the State Highway Commission has been approved as a war program for Montana. 



State Furnishes Aid. 



But federal aid is only one feature of the program of the State Highway Com- 

 mission for the improvement of highway conditions in the state. At the annual 

 meeting of the commission held in May, 1918, there was created an improvement 

 fund of approximately $120,000 for distribution throughout the state in the form of 

 state aid. Under the prevailing regulations this money is allotted to certain county 

 projects on the following basis: the county pays 60% of the construction cost while 

 the State Highway Commission pays the remaining 40% and all of the cost of 

 engineering and supervision. 



As in the case of federal aid, state aid has been given primarily in connection 

 with the improvement of main agricultural roads; and an especial effort has been 

 made to secure the improvement of important local roads, which, not being post 



