CHAPTER XXXVIII 

 PUBLIC HIGHWAYS* 



399. National Roads. In 1806, Congress authorized 

 the construction of a national turnpike, from Cumber- 

 land, Md., to St. Louis, Mo., and continued to make 

 appropriations until 1838. This road still exists and many 

 sections of it are now in good condition. Most of the 

 national appropriations for public roads were primarily 

 for military roads, but the federal government has made 

 no appropriations for road building since the beginning of 

 the Civil war. Since 1892, Congress has provided for the 

 "Office of Public Road Enquiry," for the purpose of exper- 

 imenting on problems in road construction and studying 

 the problems of road administration and maintenance. 



400. Building and Maintaining Public Highways. 

 Most of the states still have their roads in charge of 

 county officers or other persons who, while generally 

 competent in ordinary business undertakings, are not 

 students of the technical problems of road construction 

 or maintenance. In nearly every foreign country, road 

 building and road maintenance is in charge of expert 

 road engineers. In recent years, several states have 

 established the office of "State Highway Commissioner," 

 and provided for the state, county and precinct to share 

 the expense of preparing or building roads. This is 

 known as the "state-aid plan." 



401. The Need of Public Highways. Good highways 



* Acknowledgments are due Mr. T. W. Larkin for generous assistance in the 

 preparation of this chapter. 



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