ECONOMIC SURVEYS OF COUNTY HIGHWAY IMPROVEMENT, 7 



to three times the total cost of the nnprovements. The increase in 

 values in those instances which were recorded ranged from 63 per 

 cent to 80 per cent in Spotsylvania, from 68 to 194 in Dinwiddle, 

 70 to 80 in Lee, 25 to 100 in Wise, 9 to 114 in FrankHn, 50 to lOO in 

 Dallas, 25 to 50 in Lauderdale, and from 50 to 100 in Manatee. It 

 will be found upon readmg the chapters on the individual coiuities 

 that the estimates of increase were based for the most part upon the 

 territory within a distance of one mile on each side of the roads 

 improved. These estimates are not claimed to be mathematically 

 exact, but it is beheved that they will give a fairly accurate indication 

 of the results which may be expected under similar conditions. 



In dealing with the effect of road improvement upon the hauling 

 of commodities, the method has been adopted of ascertaining the 

 traffic area served by each road much in the same manner as the 

 drainage area of a stream is ascertained. After determining such 

 areas the character and amount of production is ascertained and 

 an -estimate is made as to the proportion of the tonnage produced 

 which is hauled upon the roads. A further investigation is made as 

 to shipments by rail in and out of the county and information is 

 obtained from United States census reports and from merchants 

 and producers to verify the results obtained from the traffic-area 

 calculation and the freight-tonnage inquiry. In some cases an 

 actual traffic count or census is taken to determine the tonnage 

 hauled upon the roads. From these various sources it is pos- 

 sible to arrive at a reasonably accurate estimate of the tonnage 

 hauled over the improved roads. It is a comparatively easy matter 

 to determine the average length of haul in each' case and the pre- 

 vailing rate of wages for men and teams. With these factors the 

 total tonnage, the total ton-mileage, and the cost per ton-mile 

 before and after the improvement of the roads are computed. The 

 saving to traffic represented by the road improvement is thus ex- 

 pressed in dohars. It is of course realized that the figures given 

 do not represent an actual ''dollars and cents" saving, as many of 

 the men and teams figured in on a wage basis might have been idle 

 if they had not been engaged in hauhng the products of farm and 

 forest. But they at least indicate the saving in time and energy, 

 and these have a monetary value. Therefore the saving to traffic 

 in each county is stated for the purpose of indicating to the readers 

 of this bulletin a relative figure by which they can determine the 

 waste due to a system of poor roads. Considering the eight coun- 

 ties in the aggregate, the gross annual saving in hauling costs 

 due to their good-roads systems affords the rather impressive total 

 of $627,409 for a traffic of 3,489,652 ton-miles. The average gross 

 saving per ton-mile for the eight counties is 17.8 cents, this being 



