ROAD MILEAGE AND REVENUES IN NEW ENGLAND STATES. 19 



surfaced city streets may have been included as county roads in 1909 

 and that city streets were, in some cases, excluded from the total 

 mileage. 



Information showing the total mileage and the mileage of surfaced 

 roads outside of cities at the close of 1914 is shown by counties and 

 towns in Table 19. 



RHODE ISLAND. 



By Peter J. Lannon, Collaborator. 



Rhode Island is the smallest and one of the most densely populated 

 States in the Union. It has a land area of 1,067 square miles, a total 

 road mileage of 2,169.70, and a population, according to the 1910 

 census, of 542,610. The State, therefore, has a population of 508.5 

 per square mile of area and 250 per mile of road, with 2.03 miles of 

 road per square mile of area. Of the 1910 population, 3.3 per cent 

 or 17,956 was rural, thus indicating a rural population of 8.28 per 

 mile of road. The State is not well provided with good road materials. 

 A magnetic iron ore ranks as the best and granitic rock and trap are 

 next m value. Puddingstone and conglomerate and gravel form a 

 fair material for road use. 



THE STATE ROAD SYSTEM. 



The present board of public roads created in 1902 was the out- 

 growth of the joint committee appointed in 1892 and the highway 

 commissioner appointed in 1896 and abolished in 1902. The board 

 consists of 5 members appointed by the governor and serving 5 years 

 each. They have charge of the construction and maintenance of all 

 State roads and of the bridges on these roads. Seven hundred miles 

 have been selected as the State roads, but only 325 miles are legally 

 under State control. The roads become State roads only when they 

 have been improved or reconstructed by the State board. The State 

 bridges are repaired and reconstructed by the board and the cost 

 paid by them in the first place and then a proportion of the cost 

 charged against the cities or towns in which thfe bridge lies, but the 

 State is obhged to pay 50 per cent of this cost. Public utility com- 

 panies using the bridges also are assessed for a portion of the cost. 



In addition to the 325 miles of State road there are 1,844 miles of 

 local roads. Of the State roads, 89 miles are bituminous macadam 

 and the rest surface-treated waterbound macadam. 



AU construction is done by contract and the State maintains water- 

 bound macadam by the patrol system and a yearly oiling. Bitumi- 

 nous macadam is maintained by section gangs. Convicts are not 

 used. 



The State board derives its revenue from appropriations, bond 

 issues, and the automobile fines and fees. From 1903 to 1914 there 



