16 BULLETIN 387, U. S. DEPAETMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



FLORIDA. 



By J. P. Clarkson, Collaborator United States Office of Public Roads and Rural En- 

 gineering. 



Florida has a land area of 54,861 square miles, a total road mileage 

 of 17,995, and a population, according to the 1910 Census, of 752,619. 

 The State, therefore, has a population of 13.71 per square mile of 

 area and 41.82 per mile of road, with 0.33 mile of road per square 

 mile of area. Of the population in 1910, 70.9 per cent, or 533,539, was 

 rural, a rural population of 29.65 per mile of road. 



A State road department to consist of five persons, one 

 from each congressional district, appointed by the governor, subject 

 to confirmation by the State senate, was created in 1915. The mem- 

 bers of the department elect annually from their membership a 

 chairman and a secretary. The department is required to employ 

 some person well versed in road building to be State road commis- 

 sioner, and may employ also necessary clerical and engineering assist- 

 ants. Fifteen per cent of all county motor vehicle hcenses is paid 

 into the S1;ate treasury for the maintenance of the State road depart- 

 ment. The work of the department is mostly of an advisory nature. 



General jurisdiction over roads and bridges in the several counties 

 vests in the boards of county commissioners, composed of one com- 

 missioner elected from each of the five districts into wliich each 

 county is divided. Each county commissioner's district constitutes 

 a road district, and it is the duty of the county board of commis- 

 sioners at its January meeting each year to appoint three commis- 

 sioners for roads and bridges in each district. The road commissioners 

 lay off the roads in their respective districts into subdivisions of con- 

 venient length and appoint an overseer for each subdivision. Each 

 board of commissioners is authorized to employ a county engineer, 

 who, subject to the orders of said board, has general supervision and 

 control of all road and bridge work of the county. On petition of 

 25 per cent of the duly registered voters who are freeholders residing 

 within territory which it is desired to have constituted a ' ' special 

 road and bridge district," the board of county commissioners shall 

 call an election to determine whether such district shall be created 

 and whether funds for improving the roads therein shall be raised 

 by a special tax or by a bond issue. All work in "special road and 

 bridge districts" is under the supervision and control of the board of 

 county commissioners. Special tax road districts are created by a 

 majority vote at an election called for that purpose on petition of 

 one-fourth of the qualified electors who pay taxes on real and per- 

 sonal property and reside in the district. In addition, a number of 

 special road laws have been enacted and are m force in many counties. 



Boards of county commissioners are authorized to levy a general 

 road tax of not to exceed 8 mills on each $1 of real and personal prop- 



