June 1942] Agricultural Experiment Station 21 



favorable basis of about six to one. The total cost of this construction 

 is approximately $67,000. In order to raise its share of the construc- 

 tion cost, Gilmanton floated a $10,000 bond, which will require 10 

 years for retirement. The town cannot afford to build any additional 

 mileage until this debt is finally retired in 1950. At this rate, even 

 under the favorable construction ratio of six to one, the 11 remaining 

 miles of SAO in Gilmanton would not be completed before 1975. 



The financial problem Gilmanton faces in completing its SAO 

 roads differs from those of the other low valuation towns only in 

 respect to the number of uncompleted miles. Lempster, Barnstead, 

 and Unity, for example, have equally pressing road finance problems. 

 Unlike Gilmanton, however, they must complete their projected mile- 

 age without further TRx\ allotments. If these towns neglect their 

 Class V roads and tax themselves to their financial limits, they will 

 be able to construct only about one-quarter or one-half a mile of SAO 

 per year, under the legal State-town construction ratio. 



Some of the uncompleted mileage may be useful for through 

 traffic but of little or no value whatever to the town. The 4.47 miles 

 of the Second New Hampshire Turnpike which lie in the town of 

 Lempster is a good example of projected SAO mileage which is un- 

 necessary to the town through which it passes. If this expensive 

 mileage through the wild land of the Lempster Mountain is essential 

 to State traffic, the State alone should assume the financial responsi- 

 bility for its construction. If this mileage is of doubtful usefulness to 

 State traffic also, it should be deleted from the Highway Plan. 



IV. PROGRAM OF ACTION 



A rural road system cannot be entriely satisfactory without the 

 development of a defined policy of road projection and abandonment 

 which encourages the wisest and fullest utilization of rural resources. 

 Road Planning, however, is a long-term and continuing program which 

 cannot afford immediate relief to rural people who find their road 

 taxes exceptionally high and their road services unusually poor in 

 comparison with those of other ruraLpeople in the State. Therefore, 

 to meet the immediate need, this study has been largely confined to 

 a comparison of rural towns from the standpoint of road taxes and 

 road services, in the hope of securing immediate relief for taxpayers 

 and better road services for the people of the disadvantaged towns. 

 Since the differences in road taxes and .road services among towns 

 have been found to be too extreme, methods of more nearly equalizing 

 these items are suggested. All recommendations for equalization, how- 

 ever, should be considered as a short-term means of lessening the 

 present road tax and road service disparities among towns, and not 

 as a final solution to the New Hampshire rural road problems. In no 

 sense of the word can these short-term methods of adjustment be con- 

 sidered a sul^stitute for a Axell planned system of rural road projection 

 and abandonment. 



