26 



BULLETIlSr 393, V. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGEICULTUEE. 



Traffic Census. 



In order to verify and complete data as to the volume of traflac 

 and the cost per ton-mile on tlie different roads, three traffic takers for 

 Spotsylvania County were appointed in the early part of 1914. The 

 census covered one week in March and July, respectively, including 

 Sundays, two weeks in December, 1914, excluding Sundays, and one 

 week in April, 1915, including Sunday. 



The traffic area served by these roads covers practically the whole 

 county, which contains 360,680 acres. There is some traffic from 

 Caroline County, but this does not sensibly affect the total. 



The results of these censuses are shown in Table 7, in which atten- 

 tion is called to the fact that the average haul includes the distance 

 on both the improved and -unimproved roads. 



Table 7. — Traffic census on three improved roads in Spotsylvania County, Va. 



Road. 



Aver- 

 age 



teams 

 per 

 day. 



Average 

 loaded 

 teams 



per day. 



Average 



tons 

 hauled 

 per day .1 



Aver- 

 age tons 

 hauled 

 per 



year. 



Aver- 

 age 

 haul.2 



Annual 

 ton- 

 miles. 



Average 

 cost per 

 ton-mile. 



Average 



motor 



vehicles 



per day.' 





217 

 155 



73 



79 

 45 



27 



190.4 

 103.4 



49.3 



59, 460 

 32,266 



15,397 



Miles. 

 13.42 

 8.5 



0.49 



804,564 

 281, 796 



158,472 



Cents. 

 13 



15 



14 



26 



Plank 



16 



Partlows, Mount Pleasant to 

 Spotsylvania C. H 



13 







1 Based on three 6-day censuses and one 12-day census. 



2 Distance includes both improved and unimproved roads. 



Practically all tonnage shown for the Mount Pleasant Road also 

 passes over the Courthouse Road on its way to the market or shipping 

 point at Fredericksburg. From Table 7 it will be seen that the total 

 annual traffic over the Courthouse and Plank Roads amounts to 

 91,726 tons net. It is estimated that the total traffic on the River 

 Road is about one-fourth of the total tonnage on the other two roads, 

 or 22,930 tons annually, which makes a total traffic passing over the 

 bond-built roads of the county of 114,656 tons net. 



In ascertaining the tonnage and the ton-mileage passing over the 

 roads no computation was made of the motor- vehicle traffic, except 

 a count of the number of motor cars, but it is worth while to mention 

 that on a tonnage basis and at an average weight of 1.45 tons for a 

 total of 18,980 cars passing over the roads in the year, with an average 

 distance traveled of 9.8 miles, the automobile traffic represented 

 27,521 tons, or 271,511 ton-miles, a traffic equivalent to 29 per cent 

 of the net ton-mileage of products hauled. Thus in a strictly rural 

 county the motor traffic has already assumed striking proportions. 



The total net ton-mileage on the bond-built roads, exclusive of 

 automobile traffic, the approximate cost of moving this tonnage before 



