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ECONOMIC SURVEYS OF COUNTY HIGHWAY IMPROVEMENT. 41 
adamized under the money-aid plan cost an average of $6,303.52 
per mile, and that 47.25 miles graded but not macadamized cost 
$3,248.83 per mile. On this basis the grading cost about 52 per 
cent and the macadam about 48 per cent. The transformation 
wrought by the new construction is strikingly shown in Plates XII 
and XIV. 
HOW THE ROADS ARE MAINTAINED. 
The improved roads of Lee County are not systematically main- 
tained, and they are beginning to show signs of wear. A little 
work is done now and then in cleaning out ditches and opening up 
culverts under the direction of the district road superintendents. 
A 3-mile section of the road from Ben Hur to Jonesville was resur- 
faced in 1914 at a cost of $2,500, paid from the bond-issue fund. 
This road was scarified and resurfaced with No. 2 stone and screen- 
ings, sprinkled and rolled down, and is now in very good condition. 
The balance of the road is badly worn and should be resurfaced as 
soon as possible. This is the only extensive repair work that has 
been done. 
: EFFECT OF ROAD IMPROVEMENT ON LAND VALUES. 
Since changes in assessed valuation between 1910 and 1915, as 
pointed out elsewhere in this chapter, have been comparatively slight, 
it would appear, if such a standard indication were accepted, that 
the improved roads have not produced greater property values in 
the county. Personal inspection and inquiry in 1911, however, relat- 
ing to 32 distinct farms, indicated an average value on the roads 
selected for improvement of $40 per acre, while the lands along the 
cross-country roads averaged about $25 per acre. Lands along the 
Ben Hur-Jonesville road, the only one improved up to that time, 
_ averaged about $100 per acre, and it was ascertained that the average 
before the improvement was about $25 to $35 per acre. 
In the 1913 study it was found that the average value of seven 
tracts of land selected at random on the improved roads, containing 
a total of 1,289 acres, was $75 per acre, showing an increase in the 
two years preceding of about 80 per cent. One case deserves special 
mention as illustrating the effect of road improvement on land values. - 
A tract containing 109 acres on the road between Ben Hur and 
Jonesville was sold before that road was improved for $4,500, but the 
purchaser failed to take the land, claiming that the price was exor- 
bitant. This same land sold in 1911, after the road was finished, for 
$9,000, a gain of 100 per cent over the supposed exorbitant price. 
