60 BULLETIN 284, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



4. Local labor available for maintenance work is made dissatisfied 

 by the constant, unintelligent, and unfavorable criticism of those 

 using the road. 



5. Maintenance continuing over a period of years — the ultimate 

 indispensable condition of effective maintenance — is jeopardized by 

 the lack of accountir ~ control that prevents spending next year's cur- 

 rent income in this year. 



6. The lack of skilled supervision in construction and the effect of 

 this in increasing the cost or in making effective maintenance impos- 

 sibly expensive are everywhere seen. 



7. The county authorities are commonly opposed to following sug- 

 gestions for maintenance that involve tying up road funds in any 

 way, such as purchasing materials in advance to store along the road 

 for making repairs or maintaining the road surface. 



All of the above matters are quite apart from the customary ex- 

 pected difficulties encountered in practical details of maintenance, 

 and the elimination of many of these perplexing matters can appar- 

 ently only follow some educational propaganda and a general en- 

 lightenment of county voters and officials. These troubles are not all 

 found in any one county, but no county is entirely free from all. 



These matters will be made the basis for special study, with a view 

 to suggesting detailed, effective remedies so far as they can be applied 

 under existing conditions and to promoting a better understanding 

 of the imperative needs of maintenance to conserve the huge invest- 

 ment of public funds being made annually in county road construc- 

 tion. 



A total of 681.8 miles is now under the supervision of this office. 

 This is about 81.2 per cent of the distance from Petersburg to 

 Atlanta and 69.1 per cent of the total distance from Washington to 

 Atlanta on the selected route. A large number of companion photo- 

 graphs have been taken showing the condition of this road at the 

 time the Government supervision commenced, and again after im- 

 provement. 



Table I shows the distribution of mileage in the several counties, 

 the mileage under patrol squads or gangs, and the amounts expended 

 for maintenance and construction. All the work is cooperative and 

 the counties which are participating in the plan first signified their 

 concurrence in the project by adopting and recording a resolution 

 establishing the legal status of supervision by the Government. The 

 counties then made application on a form provided by the office. 

 When these were properly executed they were then filed in the Wash- 

 in ston office. 



