ECONOMIC SUEVEYS OF COUNTY HIGHWAY IMPROVEMENT, 5 



were voted was under the control of the State highway department, 

 and it appears that excellent results were obtained conunensurate with 

 the outlay of funds; but the Virginia law was evidently defective in 

 that no provision was made for a competent authority to make esti- 

 mates and to give advice preliminary to the issuance of bonds. The 

 Virginia Legislature has since, at its 1916 session, enacted legislation 

 covering this point. The experience of the counties covered by these 

 studies indicates the wisdom of a statute in each State requiring a 

 rehable estimate upon which bond elections should be based. 



The road construction in these counties would seem to bear out 

 the assertion which has often been made that from 20 to 25 per cent 

 of the total road mileage of a county, if wisely distributed, wiU 

 serve traffic needs to the extent of at least 80 or 85 per cent of the 

 total. In one of the counties included in these studies it will be 

 noted that the mileage is excessively large in comparison with the 

 ton-mileage hauled over the improved roads. In this case it would 

 seem that the county has overbuilt its improved-road system and 

 that a lesser mileage would have served its traffic needs. 



A question partly of management an4 partly of finance is involved 

 in the experience of the eight counties in regard to road maintenance. 

 It is a well-known fact that the general tendency throughout the 

 United States is to neglect the maintenance of roads which have, in 

 many cases, been built at great expense. In the study of these eight 

 counties it was found that Franklin County, N. Y., and Lauderdale 

 County, Miss., were most effectively meeting tne problem of main- 

 tenance. In the case of Franklin County the State was directly 

 concerned in the maintenance of the roads and had complete 

 control over such work on some of the roads and an indirect con- 

 trol over other roads, thus applying to the task a skilled manage- 

 ment, the details of which are explained in the chapter on Franklin 

 County. In Lauderdale County, Miss., the work is conducted under 

 an excellent provision of law which specffies that an amount of not 

 less than 1 mill on the dollar shall be levied to provide a maintenance 

 fund for all of the roads constructed by means of bond issues, and 

 this fund is to be kept separate from aU other county funds and can 

 be used only for maintenance. As a result of this law the Lauderdale 

 County roads are not only in as good condition to-day as when com- 

 pleted, but have been actually improved. Thus the county's invest- 

 ment in good roads has not been allowed to deteriorate in the shghtest 

 degree. 



The 1916 Virginia Legislature has met the maintenance situation 

 by providing that an annual tax of not less than 3 per cent of the 

 amount of bonds issued shall be levied to provide a maintenance 

 fund. A conspicuous example of an emergency situation with ref- 

 erence to road maintenance is afforded by Spotsylvania County, where 



