BULLETIN" 136, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



is to divide the total number of tons by the number of hauling days, 

 which is usually taken at 300. With an acreage yield of 200 pounds 

 there result 16 tons per day which may be assumed to move an 

 average distance of 8 miles. This would make a total of 128 ton- 

 miles daily. The daily average weight over the entire road is there- 

 fore about 10.7 tons. The tonnage hauled is the most direct and 

 reliable basis from which to determine the economic value of a road. 

 (See Table 2.) 



It is common to find that when a poor market road is improved 

 the cost of hauling is reduced by from 2 to 10 cents per ton-mile. The 

 saving to the community during a year can then be readily computed 

 for each mile. (See PL* III, fig. 2.) 



Table 3 shows the annual saving per mile and the capitalized 

 amount of this annual saving at 5 per cent interest for daily traffic 

 varying from 5 to 80 tons. 



Table 3. — Annual saving per mile in hauling costs at 5 cents per -ton-mile reduction. 



Tons per 

 day. 



Total 



saved in 



year of 



300 days. 



Capital- 

 ized at 

 5 per cent. 



Tons per 

 day. 



Total 

 saved in 



year of 

 300 days. 



Capital- 

 ized at 

 5 per cent. 



li) 

 15 

 20 

 25 

 30 

 35 

 40 



$75 

 150 

 225 

 300 

 375 

 450 

 525 

 600 



SI, 500 

 3,000 

 4,500 

 6,000 

 7, 500 

 9,000 

 10, 500 

 12, 000 



45 

 50 

 55 

 60 

 65 

 70 

 75 

 80 



$675 



750 



825 



900 



975 



1,050 



1,125 



1,200 



$13, 500 

 15,000 

 16, 500 

 18, 000 

 19, 500 

 21, 000 

 22, 500 

 24, 000 



If the roads do not radiate uniformly from a town it is evident 

 that in a uniformly producing area the traffic lost to one road must 

 go over some adjoining road. However produce is distributed along 

 the road, in general, the portion of the road nearer the market will 

 receive much more use than the distant portion. The first few miles 

 of radial road from a town are also much used by vehicles other 

 than market vehicles. 



Although a very important matter, the average haul on a market 

 road -is somewhat difficult to determine. It may be estimated from 

 the maximum haul or the known radius of the traffic area, 1 and may 

 usually be assumed to be two-thirds of the average maximum haul. 



To show further the service which market roads render to a com- 

 munity, there is given in Table 4 the yearly and daily tonnage pass- 



1 In Bulletin No. 49 of the Bureau of Statistics of the IT. S. Department of Agriculture, entitled "Cost 

 of Hauling Crops from the Farms to Shipping Points," the average haul is assumed to be the radius of 

 the circle whose area is one-half the area of a circle whose radius is the maximum haul. The average haul 

 is then about seventy-one hundredths of the maximum haul. If all produce on a traffic area of one-sixth 

 of a complete circle were hauled directly from the point where it originates to the market at the center, 

 the resulting average haul would be sixty-seven hundredths of the maximum haul, which is the radius of 

 the sector. If all produce were first concentrated on the middle radius of the sector, the average haul 

 resulting would be stxty-four hundredths of the radius. 



