UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 
DEPARTMENT BULLETIN No. 1279 
Washington, D. C. 
March 14, 1925 
RURAL HIGHWAY MILEAGE, INCOME, AND EXPENDITURES-, 1921 AND 1922 
By Andrew P. Anderson, Highway Engineer, Bureau of Public Roads 
CONTENTS 
Page 
General summary 1 
General comparative data, Table 1 10 
Income for rural highway purposes, 1921, 
Table 2 11 
Expenditures for rural highway purposes, 
1921, Table3 13 
Rural road expenditures, 1922, Table 4 16 
Mileage of rural roads, by types, as of Jan. 1, 
1922, Table5 17 
Mileage of rural roads, by types, 1914, Table 6. 19 
Total mileage of rural roads and mileage sur- 
faced, 1904, 1909, 1914, 1921, Table 7 20 
Total mileage of rural roads, by types, built 
during 1921, Table 8 — . 22 
Total mileage of rural roads, by tvpes, built 
during 1922, Table 9 24 
Highway bonds, authorized, sold, and out- 
standing, Table 10 26 
Page 
Rural road mileage by types and systems in 
each State, Table 11 28 
Highway income and expenditures in each 
State, Table 12... 51 
Comparison of State highway mileage and 
expenditures, Table 13 78 
Comparison of income for highway purposes 
by years, 1904, 1914, 1921, Table 14.... 79 
Comparison of bonds outstanding, 1914 and 
1921, Table 15 80 
Motor vehicle registration by years, 1913 to 
1921, inclusive, Table 16 81 
Motor vehicle revenues by years, 1903 to 1921, 
inclusive. Table 17 82 
Motor vehicle registration and revenue, 1921, 
Table 18 85 
Motor vehicle registration and revenue, 1922, 
Table 19 87 
GENERAL SUMMARY 
The rural public roads of the 48 States, that is, the public roads 
located outside the limits of incorporated villages, towns, and cities, 
had on January 1, 1922, a total length of 2,941,294 miles and in- 
volved a total disbursement of $1,036,587,772 during the year 1921. 
Of our total road mileage 387,760 miles had been improved with some 
form of surfacing, such as sand-clay, gravel, macadam, or pavement 
when the year 1922 began. 
As totals, these figures are impressive. Our total road mileage 
is sufficient to encircle the earth at the equator nearly 118 times, 
while our surfaced mileage is sufficient to gridiron the United States 
with 75 east and west routes extending from ocean to ocean and an 
equal number extending north and south from the Canadian border 
and the Great Lakes to Mexico and the Gulf. These totals help us to 
97532— 25t I 
