BULLETIN OF THE 
flSWIlIIOFAldTll 
No. 53 
Contribution from the Office of Public Roads, Logan Waller Page, Director. I , 
December 31, 1913. 
OBJECT-LESSON AND EXPERIMENTAL ROADS, AND 
BRIDGE CONSTRUCTION, 1912-13. 
INTRODUCTION. 
The United States Office of Public Roads is empowered by a 
provision of the agricultural act to expend a portion of its appro- 
priation " for investigations of the best methods of road making and 
the best kinds of road-making materials, and for furnishing expert 
advice on road building and maintenance." 1 The terms of this clause 
have been interpreted to include the construction of short stretches of 
various kinds of roads in different communities for the purpose of 
serving as object lessons to the officials having charge of the roads 
and to the citizens who use them. The desire of the office has been 
to demonstrate in a practical way the need for good roads and at the 
same time show to the community the proper method of economical 
road construction. 
The work of the office is limited to furnishing the services of one 
or more expert engineers to make the surveys, estimates, and speci- 
fications for the road, to supervise its construction, and to give prac- 
tical advice to the local authorities who must furnish all machinery, 
materials, and labor. The community where the road is to be built 
is first required, through the officials having jurisdiction over the 
proposed road, to make application to this office on a prescribed form. 
As an illustration of the growth of the office the following table 
is given. It shows the area in square yards of each type of road con- 
structed during the fiscal years 1905 to 1913, inclusive: 
Area, in square yards, of object-lesson roads constructed during 1905-1913, 
inclusive. 
Material. 
1905 
1906 
1907 
1908 
1909 
1910 
1911 
1912 
1913* 
526 
1,004 
2,055 
3,218 
1,917 
1,744 
5,500 
4,178 
Bituminous-surfaced con- 
Bituminous macadam 
45, 832 
41,551 
34, 453 
i Agricultural act, 1914, Public No. 430, 62d Cong., 3d sess. Approved March 4, 1913. 
2 Includes experimental roads. 
4003- 
-Bull. 53—14- 
