PUBLIC EOAD MILEAGE AND EEVENUES^ 1914. 7 



and became in the end the foundation of the present-day system of 

 highways. It was not until 1676 that any attention was given to 

 the proper construction and mamtenance of roads. As the State was 

 all apportioned when the Government took up the town, township, 

 and section method of laying out pubho lands, nothing was done in 

 this line in New Jersey. In the early days private companies built 

 turnpikes, many of which were laid straight without regard to grade. 

 Consequently, the rebuilding of these roads in recent years so that 

 they will be wide and straight, with good grades, has been a heavy 

 expense. 



The first pubhc work on roads appears to have been conducted 

 by local committees and gave rise to the general practice of working 

 out the poll tax. This system of working out poU tax, however, has 

 been abandoned during recent years. 



In the county of Essex a small amomit of county road work appears 

 to have been done about 1868 to 1870. Nevertheless, the inhabitants 

 of New Jersey traveled mostly on township roads until a general move- 

 ment for county roads began in Union County in 1888. 



New Jersey holds the distinction of being the first State to adopt 

 the pohcy of State aid. The first State-aid work was done in 1892, 

 and the first appropriation for State aid was, $75,000. At first the 

 State paid 33 J per cent of the cost of State-aid roads, but at present 

 it pays 40 per cent. Up to July 1, 1914, the total outlay by the 

 State aggregated $5,800,000 and 1,833 miles of State-aid roads had 

 been completed. 



The collection of road mileage statistics and its division into 

 classes was made under the direction of the division highway engi- 

 neer, acting as United States collaborator, who was assisted in his 

 work by other employees of the department of pubhc roads of New 

 Jersey and " by county engineers and other county officials. The 

 data upon which the expenditure and bonding tables were com- 

 piled were furnished by the office of the comptroller of the treasury 

 of New Jersey, and the tables were made up from these data by 

 employees of the Office of Pubhc Roads and Rural Engineering. 



Maps were obtained of all sections of the State "and the length of 

 the roads scaled by the State collaborator. Where these lengths 

 were later checked by actual measurement, the results were very 

 close. From most of the counties the engineers furnished accurate 

 information of the work under their charge. In a few cases the 

 townships had these data, but in most cases the best posted citizens 

 indicated on the roads of their districts the general class and quality 

 of pavement, if any, upon which the estimates for each township 

 were based. In a few townships, however, the classes of roads had 

 to be averaged with the classes of the adjoining townships. In 

 order to complete the total mileage figures of roads and streets, 

 45963°— 16 2 



