38 BULLETIN 389, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTTJEE. 



REVENUES APPLIED TO ROADS AND BRIDGES. 



The total revenue applied to roads and bridges in 1915 amounted to $245,013.65, 

 of which $173,730.86 was derived from the general county taxes, $54,026 from poll 

 taxes, and $17,256.79 from county bond issue. It was impossible to secure this 

 information for the year 1914. No funds were devoted to road improvement by the 

 State during the years 1914 or 1915. In 1904 the revenues applied to roads and bridges 

 amounted to $46,875.85, a gain for the 11-year period of $198,137.80, or 422.68 per 

 cent. Detailed information showing the revenues applied to roads and bridges in 

 1915 is presented in Table 43. 



ROAD AND BRIDGE BONDS. 



The total road and bridge bonds outstanding January 1, 1915, amounted to $38,000, 

 of which $25,000 were voted and sold in 1914. In the early part of 1915 there was 

 expended from bond fxmds $17,256.79. Road bonds amounting to $3,000 were retired 

 in 1914. No State road and bridge bonds have been issued. Detailed information on 

 this subject is presented in Table 63. 



NEW MEXICO.i 



New Mexico has a land area of 122,503 square miles, and a total road mileage of 

 11,873, of which 261.5 miles or 2.2 per cent were surfaced at the close of 1914. 



There is a State highway commission consisting of the governor, the commissioner 

 of public lands, and the State engineer. The governor is chairman, the commissioner 

 of public lands is secretary, and the State engineer is engineer of the commission. 

 The commission has charge of the expenditure of the State road fund, is authorized to 

 employ, remove, and fix the salaries of assistant engineers and other necessary help, 

 is empowered to make rules and regulations governing the method of construction, 

 improvement and maintenance of such highways and bridges as may receive aid from 

 the State and to compel compliance therewith, and, when requested, is required to 

 advise towns, villages, and counties regarding the construction and maintenance of 

 any road or bridge therein. It also is made the duty of the commission to investigate 

 the needs of the various localities of the State and to determine what roads shall be 

 constructed or repaired, and cooperate with the boards of commissioners of the various 

 counties in the construction of such roads. It is further required of the commission 

 that it construct, repair, and maintain at the expense of the State, either wholly or 

 in part, such highways as in its judgment will best subserve the interest of the general 

 public and result in the ultimate development of a complete system of highways in 

 the State. 



At various times the legislature has designated specific roads as State highways and 

 provided for their improvement either by cooperation with the coxmties through 

 which they pass, by an appropriation from the State treasury, or by the labor of State 

 convicts. Where such' highways are provided, the counties are required to provide 

 the necessary rights of way ; and in the case of the ' ' El Camino Real " the boards of 

 commissioners of the counties through which it passes are authorized and required to 

 levy a special tax of not to exceed 2 mills on the dollar on all taxable property in their 

 respective counties to be used for the construction of bridges within such counties. 



There is in each county a county road board composed of three qualified electors 

 and taxpayers, appointed by the State highway commission for a period of three years. 

 The members serve without compensation and are subject to removal by the State 

 highway commission. The county road board has authority to construct or improve, 

 or to aid in constructing or improving, any road or bridge within the county and to 

 maintain and repair the same, and is required to select and lay out, in cooperation 



1 In collecting the information for New Mexico assistance was rendered by James A. French, State en? 

 gineer, and collaborator of the U. S. Department of Agriculture. 



