UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 



I BULLETIN No. 393 



Contribution from OflSce of Public Roads and Rural 

 Engineering, LOGAN WALLER PAGE, Director. 



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Washington, D. C. 



October 23, 1916 



ECONOMIC SURVEYS OF COUNTY HIGHWAY 

 IMPROVEMENT. 



A Compilation and Analysis of Data in Eight Selected Counties, Showing 



Comparative Financial Burdens and Economic Benefits Resulting 



from Highway Improvement During a Period of Years. 



By J. E. Pennybacker, Chief of Road Economics, and M. O. Eldeidge, 

 Assistant in Road Economics. 



CONTENTS. 



Introduction 1 



Comparative analysis of economic effects of 



road improvement 2 



Spotsylvania County, Va 10 



Dinwiddle County, Va 28 



Lee County, Va 36 



Wise County, Va 44 



Franklin County, N. Y 52 



Dallas County, Ala 62 



Lauderdale County, iliss 68 



Manatee County, Fla 79 



INTRODUCTION. 



In order to obtain direct information as to the benefits and burdens 

 imposed upon communities through the construction of systems of 

 improved roads, it was decided in 1909 by the Office of Pubhc Koads to 

 make a series of exhaustive studies in selected counties. These studies 

 were designed to cover a period of approximately 5 years, or a sufiicient 

 period to show the road improvement from its inception until such 

 time as the full measure of its usefulness could be demonstrated. 

 The counties selected were Spotsylvania, Dinwiddie, Lee, and Wise 

 in Virginia, Franklin in New York, Dallas in Alabama, Lauderdale 

 in Mississippi, and Manatee in Florida, as in those counties bonds 

 had been recently voted for the construction of improved roads and 

 it therefore was possible to make a series of studies to cover the road 

 improvement from the outset to completion. 



The information which has been assembled during the years 1910 

 to 1915, inclusive, comprises general descriptions of the character 



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