HIGHWAY BONDS. 29 



Failure of bond issues. — Instances are not lacking where bond 

 issues for highway purposes have proved failures. These instances 

 are invariably due to mismanagement rather than to defective 

 principle. Where counties have issued highway bonds the proceeds 

 of which have been spent to construct temporary road surfaces on 

 unimproved grades and without proper drainage, failure has neces- 

 sarily resulted. There are on record in the Office of Public Roads 

 instances where so-called macadam roads have been built with bond 

 money by simply dumping broken stone at the wrong time of the 

 year on muddy road surfaces without grades or alignments and 

 without rolling or binding. (Cf. PL I, fig. 2.) 



A typical method of mismanagement is to distribute the funds 

 equally on all the roads in the county or district issuing the bonds. 

 Recently in a southern State $40,000 was distributed equally over 

 nearly 90 miles of highway in a certain district. After deducting 

 necessary overhead expenses this sum was equivalent to about $400 

 per mile. Obviously no permanent results could be obtained from 

 such a distribution. In another county, where heavy rains and 

 severe winters could not fail to make the roads nearly impassable 

 with the superficial construction adopted, bonds were issued to the 

 amount of $300,000. The money was devoted to light grading on 

 an excessive mileage without any attempt at surfacing. 



Through a misunderstanding of the essential principles underlying 

 the establishment of a proper county road system, conflicts of interest 

 sometimes arise which cause the failure of the bond issue plan. The 

 location of the roads to be improved should not be determined by 

 argument, but upon sound engineering and economic principles. 

 Before a community votes to issue bonds for highways it is necessary 

 to understand thoroughly what roads are to be improved and the 

 approximate cost of their construction and maintenance. Too fre- 

 quently ill-advised locations are adopted. 



Need for highway engineers. — Highway plans for bond issues 

 require expert skill and professional service. Before the amount of 

 bonds is determined, a thorough study of the needs of the county 

 should be made and careful maps of the proposed highway system 

 should be prepared. The sum to be issued should not be fixed until 

 it is reasonably known what it will accomplish. It is customary for 

 many counties to appoint a commission of business men under whose 

 jurisdiction the bond money is expended. In other cases the county 

 supervisor or county commissioner has the direction of expenditures. 

 The best results have always followed where such commissions or 

 county boards have secured the services of a highway engineer. 



Guided by the costly experience of many communities, it is now 

 becoming common for counties to adopt this plan. In all engineering 

 construction it is customary to allow a certain percentage of the cost 



