28 University of New Hampshire [Bulletin 339 



ALLEVIATION OF LOW VALUATION TOWNS' 

 BURDENS IN SAO CONSTRUCTION 



The raising of funds for secondary road construction has always 

 been a strain upon the meager tax resources of low valuation towns. 

 Since towns with less than five miles of uncompleted SAO have been 

 denied their TRA allotments until this mileage is completed, the 

 secondary construction problems of many of these towns will be 

 greatly magnified. To alleviate partially the almost impossible con- 

 struction l)urden in certain of these low valuation towns two sugges- 

 tions are offered : 



(1) Towns with an assessed valuation of less than $20,000 per 

 mile of Class V road and with uncomi)leted SAO miles might be per- 

 mitted to accept TRA and State aid for construction, either or both, 

 within the same year. In other words, exemption from the provisions 

 (jf the 1941 law depriving certain towns with uncompleted SAO road 

 of their TRA allotment might more wisely be based upon the criterion 

 of assessed valuation per mile of Class V road than upon the number 

 of uncompleted SAO miles. At least three of the seven towns which 

 are now exempted from the 1941 law because they have more than 

 five uncompleted SAO miles are far more financially able to construct 

 their projected mileage than any of the towns with from one to five 

 miles to construct and with a valuation of less than $20,000 per mile 

 of Class V road. This modification of the 1941 law w^ould force high 

 valuation towns, desiring to receive their TRA allotment, to complete 

 their SAO roads. At the same time, low valuation towns would not 

 be subjected to the hardships which the 1941 law now works upon 

 them. Or, 



(2) Towns with less than $20,000 valuation per mile of Class V 

 road and with projected SAO mileage might receive TRA only if they 

 also elected State aid for construction. This alternative revision of the 

 1941 law would stimulate all towns to complete their projected SAO 

 miles, without denying to the towns which so greatly need assistance 

 in improving their Class V roads the benefits of the TRA allotment. 

 By a curtailment of other town services and by long-term borrowing, 

 low-valuation towns might possibly raise for a very few years their 

 share of both the TRA allotment and of State aid for construction. 



In any case it is recommended that the Highway Commissioner 

 continue to offer towns with an assessed valuation of less than $20,000 

 per mile of Class V road the most favorable financial arrangement 

 within his discretion for the construction of their projected SAO 

 mileage. 



UTILIZATION OF RURAL RESOURCES DATA IN 

 PROJECTING SECONDARY HIGHWAYS 



The Herculean task of the New Hampshire Highway Depart- 

 ment, like that in all states, has been to create as rapidly as was 

 physically and financially possible an inter-city road system which 

 could accommodate the ever increasing volume of faster and heavier 

 traffic. In the past twenty years, the Highway Department has con- 



