ROAD MILEAGE AND REVENUES IN NEW ENGLAND STATES. 15 
had 14,406 miles of public road, of which 2,650.63 miles, or 18.40 
per cent, were reported as surfaced, thus indicating a loss in surfaced 
mileage for the 5-year period of 1,208.6 miles. The 1914 information 
was obtained from town officials by the collaborator, and it is believed 
that it is much more reliable than the figures furnished for 1909, and 
the difference should therefore not be attributed to any failure on 
the part of the State or the towns to give adequate attention to the 
roads. No reports were obtained as to the mileage of graded and 
drained roads. 
Information showing the total mileage and the mileage surfaced 
for each town in the State is presented in Table 18. 
MASSACHUSETTS. 
Massachusetts has a land area of 8,039 square miles and a popula- 
tion, according to the 1910 census of 3,366,416. The total mileage 
of roads outside of cities in 1914 was reported as 18,681.40. The 
State has a population of 418.8 per square mile of area and 180.2 
per mile of road, with 2,32 miles of road per square mile of area. 
Of the population in 1910, only 7.2 per cent, or 241,049, was rural, 
thus indicating a rural population of 12.90 per mile of road. There 
are 36 cities, 14 counties, and 317 towns in the State, the towns being 
political subdivisions of the counties. 
HIGHWAY LAWS. 
There is practically no unincorporated land in Massachusetts. 
Many of the towns were organized before the State and the repre- 
sentatives of the towns met and adopted a form of Constitution. 
There were no cities until 1820, when a constitutional amendment 
was passed authorizing the legislature to give a city charter to towns 
of more than 12,000 inhabitants. 
All of the highways within the limits of a city or town were orig- 
inally under the jurisdiction of the city or town, and had to be built 
and maintained by them. 
In general, the highways in Massachusetts are divided into three 
classes, as follows: State highways, county highways, and city or 
town ways. The county, city, or town ways are cared for by the 
municipal authorities, viz, superintendents of streets, road com- 
missioners, and highway surveyors. The provisions in cities vary, 
the jurisdiction being sometimes placed in boards of commissioners 
and sometimes in boards of aldermen. The appropriations for 
either improvements or repairs are made by the city government or 
at a town meeting. 
County commissioners, upon proper petition and after due hearing, 
have authority to lay out new ways or to widen and improve existing 
w ays and order specific repairs, or may make such repairs themselves 
