HIGHWAY BONDS. 



33 



In Manatee County, Fla., the principal crops are citrous fruits and 

 early vegetables, which are shipped north. In Wayne County, Mich., 

 the city of Detroit is the center of the road system and attracts a very 

 large volume of miscellaneous traffic. The estimated annual tonnage 

 hauled over the bond-built highways in almost every instance is 

 sufficiently large to produce, by an assumed reduction of a few cents 

 per ton-mile in cost, a sufficient operating income to cancel the annual 

 interest and retirement fund required by the bonds. The relation of 

 these items is summarized in the following table : 



Table 20. — Summary of relation between bond requirements and reduced cost of hauling. 



County and State. 



Total annual 

 ton-miles 



estimated at 

 minimum. 



Approximate 



cost of 

 annual inter- 

 est and 

 redemption 

 on highway 

 bonds. 



Equivalent 

 necessary 

 reduction 

 (cents per 

 ton-mile). 



Dallas, Ala 



Manatee, Fla 



Lauderdale, Miss. 

 Spotsylvania, Va. 



Dinwiddie. Va 



Franklin, N. Y... 

 Wayne, Mich 



600, 000 

 i 200, 000 

 720,000 

 574, 720 

 212, 500 

 201, 544 

 4, 353, 966 



$28,333 

 17,342 

 24, 530 

 12, 695 

 8,633 

 25,544 

 1 179, 882 



4.7 

 8.7 

 3.4 

 2.2 

 4.1 

 12.6 

 4.1 



Rough estimate. 



2 Equivalent for annuity bond. 



The increases in the value of land adjacent to the improved roads 

 are especially noteworthy. In Manatee County, Fla., land increased 

 in value $20 per acre from 1911 to 1912, and a mile away from the 

 road the increase was $10 per acre. In Spotsylvania County, Va., 

 land which formerly sold at an average of $24.74 per acre changed 

 hands within three years at an average of $44.74. In Dinwiddie 

 County, land between 5 and 10 miles from Petersburg advanced on an 

 average from $15.25 to $30 in about 15 instances, and land 10 miles 

 from town increased, on an average in 16 instances, $16.32 an acre. 

 On eight pieces of land in Franklin County, selected at random, there 

 was an increase in value of 27.8 per cent after the improved roads 

 were built, and in Lee County, Va., land advanced 25 per cent. 



The construction of the bond-built highways in several of the 

 counties herein mentioned has been of decided benefit to school attend- 

 ance. In Spotsylvania County one consolidated school replaces three 

 one-room schools, and another consolidated school is planned. In Din- 

 widdie County school attendance increased 17| per cent in one year 

 on the improved roads, and several school wagons carrying 24 pupils 

 each have been put in service. In Lee County school attendance 

 along the improved roads shows an average of 71 per cent against 62 

 per cent along other roads. In Wise County several successful school 

 consolidations have been effected since 1909. The Pole Bridge 

 School in this county on the road from Coburn to Wise replaces four 

 one-room schools. 



52448° — 15 o 



