ROAD MILEAGE AND REVENUES IN NEW ENGLAND STATES. 19 
surfaced city streets may have been included as county roads in 1909 
and that city streets were, in some cases, excluded from the total 
mileage. 
Information showing the total mileage and the mileage of surfaced 
roads outside of cities at the close of 1914 is shown by counties and 
towns in Table 19. 
RHODE ISLAND. 
By Peter J. Lannon, Collaborator. 
Rhode Island is the smallest and one of the most densely populated 
States in the Union. It has a land area of 1,067 square miles, a total 
road mileage of 2,169.70, and a population, according to the 1910 
census, of 542,610. The State, therefore, has a population of 508.5 
per square mile of area and 250 per mile of road, with 2.03 miles of 
road per square mile of area. Of the 1910 population, 3.3 per cent 
or 17,956 was rural, thus indicating a rural population of 8.28 per 
mile of road. The State is not well provided with good road materials. 
A magnetic iron ore ranks as the best and granitic rock and trap are 
next in value. Puddings tone and conglomerate and gravel form a 
fair material for road use. 
THE STATE ROAD SYSTEM. 
The present board of public roads created in 1902 was the out- 
growth of the joint committee appointed in 1892 and the highway 
commissioner appointed in 1896 and abolished in 1902. The board 
consists of 5 members appointed by the governor and serving 5 years 
each. They have charge of the construction and maintenance of all 
State roads and of the bridges on these roads. Seven hundred miles 
have been selected as the State roads, but only 325 miles are legally 
under State control. The roads become State roads only when they 
have been improved or reconstructed by the State board. The State 
bridges are repaired and reconstructed by the board and the cost 
paid by them in the first place and then a proportion of the cost 
charged against the cities or towns in which the bridge lies, but the 
State is obliged to pay 50 per cent of this cost. Public utility com- 
panies using the bridges also are assessed for a portion of the cost. 
In addition to the 325 miles of State road there are 1,844 miles of 
local roads. Of the State roads, 89 miles are bituminous macadam 
and the rest surface-treated waterbound macadam. 
All construction is done by contract and the State maintains water- 
bound macadam by the patrol system and a yearly oiling. Bitumi- 
nous macadam is maintained by section gangs. Convicts are not 
used. 
The State board derives its revenue from appropriations, bond 
issues, and the automobile fines and fees. From 1903 to 1914 there 
