RURAL PLANNING AND DEVELOPMENT 79 



ROAD IMPROVEMENT IN THE UNITED STATES 



What is being done to improve the road system in the United 

 States is indicative of what is likely to be done in Canada in a few 

 years. The extent of improved surfacing of the rural roads of the 

 United States is increasing at the rate of 16,000 miles a year, and in 

 1915 about 277,000 miles had been improved. Half of these im- 

 provements have been carried out under the supervision of the high- 

 way departments of the separate states, which, up to January 1, 

 1916, had expended an aggregate of $265,350,825 for road and bridge 

 construction, maintenance and administration. 



In the last annual report of the Highway Commission of New 

 York, it is stated that the greatest asset which the state has is its 

 system of improved highways. The appropriation for road improve- 

 ment in 1914 was about twenty millions. The cost is met in part 

 by taxes levied on the towns and in part by contributions from the 

 state. It is declared that in recent years over 70,000 miles of highway 

 have been widened, shaped and crowned so that travel over them is 

 safe and convenient. 



ROAD IMPROVEMENT IN CANADA 



Good progress in regard to road improvement is also being made 

 in Canada. The roads in Canada are more important for distribu- 

 tion of produce than in Great Britain, where distances are short and 

 light railways are plentiful. In Canada we have had to start off 

 without any of the advantages possessed by older countries in the 

 matter of old foundations and closely settled populations. We 

 have had to develop motor transportation by road to a greater extent 

 than the more thickly populated countries as a means of feeding the 

 great trunk railways and securing the economical distribution of food. 



The respective obligations of the provincial and the local gov- 

 erning bodies in regard to road construction and maintenance have 

 to be considered. Local authorities need to be advised regarding 

 the proper use and value of different kinds of road material, after 

 adequate trial and investigation by expert departments, in order 

 to save hundreds of thousands of dollars spent on unsuitable road 

 material. Better engineering advice has also to be obtained by local 

 authorities. When the enormous amount of money spent on roads 

 and road maintenance, and the great waste raising from the hap- 

 hazard methods of planning and construction, are considered, it is 

 surprising to find so little effort being made to deal with the matter 

 on more practical and scientific lines. 



