ROAD MILEAGE, CENTRAL AND WESTERN STATES. 51 



For the purpose of raising revenue for the construction, maintenance, and repair 

 of county roads, bridges, and wharves, the board of county commissioners annually 

 levies a tax of not to exceed 4 mills on all taxable property in the county, the proceeds 

 going into the general road and bridge fund. There also is levied a tax of not to 

 exceed 10 mills on the taxable property in each road district to constitute a district 

 road fund. 



County boards of commissioners may issue bonds for road purposes in an amount 

 not to exceed 5 per cent of the taxable valuation of all property in their respective 

 counties, when authorized by a three-fifths vote of those voting at an election thereon. 



County and State convicts may be worked upon the public highways, and State 

 convicts may also be worked in the preparation of road material. The legislature 

 makes appropriations to defray the expenses of equipping and operating quarries for 

 the purpose of preparing road materials by convict labor. 



ROAD MILEAGE. 



Washington had, at the close of 1914, 42,428 miles of public roads, of which 4,922.09 

 miles, or 11.61 per cent, were siu"faced. Of the surfaced roads 502.82 miles were 

 macadam, 165.52 miles bituminous macadam, 3,924.48 miles gravel, 83.50 miles sand- 

 clay, 26.35 miles brick, 79.42 miles concrete, and 140 miles surfaced with other ma- 

 terials. There were also reported 9,450.76 miles of graded and drained earth road. 



The total of public roads reported for 1909 was 34,284 miles, of which 4,520.68 miles, 

 or 13.19 per cent, were sm'faced, an increase in surfaced roads of 401.41 miles. Infor- 

 mation regarding the total and sm'faced mileage of roads in each county for the year 

 1914 is shown in Table 27. 



REVENUES APPLIED TO ROADS AND BRIDGES. 



The total revenue applied to roads in 1914 amoimted to $7,944,717.38. Of this 

 $7,128,934.47 was derived from the general tax for State, county, township, and district 

 roads, $509,146.50 from county and district road bonds, $261,636.41 from other sources, 

 and $45,000 from State appropriations for the maintenance of the State highway depart-, 

 ment. The above items do not include expenditures for the maintenance of State 

 quarries for which the legislatine in 1913 appropriated a revolving fund of $200,000. 

 Receipts from the licensing and registration of automobiles were not applied to roada 

 in 1914. 



The total revenue applied to roads and bridges in 1904 amoimted to $1,436,070.19, 

 an increase for the 10-year period of $6,508,647.19, or 453.22 per cent. The amounts 

 received from general taxation for State, county, and township roads and bridges, and 

 other revenue applied to this piupose in 1914 are shown by counties in Table 50. 



ROAD AND BRIDGE BONDS. 



The total county and district road and bridge bonds outstg,nding on January 1, 1915, 

 amounted to $1,555,000, of which $509,146.50 was expended in 1914. In that year 

 there was voted $133,274.27 and $35,000 of road and bridge bonds sold. No State 

 road bonds have been issued, but $190,000 State bonds were issued in 1911 for the 

 construction of a bridge across the Colinnbia River at Wenatchee. Information 

 regarding road and bridge bonds is shown by counties in Table 68. 



WISCONSIN.' 



Wisconsin has a land area of 55,256 square miles, and a total road mileage of 75,707 

 of which 13,399.47 miles, or 17.6 per cent, were smiaced at the close of 1914. 



There is a State highway commission which consists, ex officio, of the State geologist 

 and the dean of the engineering college of the State university, and of three other 



1 The information for Wisconsin was collected under the direction of this office by A. R. Hirst, State 

 highway engineer, and collaborator of the U. S. Department of Agriculture. 



