26 BULLETIN 393, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 
Trarric Census. 
In order to verify and complete data as to the volume of traffic 
and the cost per ton-mile on the different roads, three traffic takers for 
Spotsylvania County were appointed in the Es part of 1914. The 
census covered one week in March and July, respectively, mcluding 
Sundays, two weeks in December, 1914, excluding Sundays, and one 
week in April, 1915, mcluding Sunday. | 
The traffic area served by these roads covers practically the whole 
county, which contains 360,680 acres. There is some traffic from 
Caroline County, but this does not sensibly affect the total. 
The resulis of these censuses are shown in Table 7, in which atten- 
tion is called tothe fact that the average haul javludes the distance 
on both the improved and unimproved roads. 
TABLE 7.— Trafic census on three improved roads in Spotsylvania County, Va. 
| 
| Aver- | Aver- 
age SetR ee  Ageraee | age tons! Aver- | Annnal 
Road. teams | pea | nauled| age ton- 
per | teams | hauled | per | haul? | miles. 
dzy. |P& Gay.|perday-*) veer 
Miles. 
Courthouse See eg ee ee See | 17 79 190.4 | 30,460 | 13.42) 804,56 
ES ae ee fees bs 45 | 103.4 | 32 &5 | 281,796 
Parilows, Mount Pleasani to | 
Spoisytvania C. H-_..-.___. 73 27 49.3 | 15,397 ) 9.49 | 158,472 
i Based on three 6-day censuses and one 12-day census. 
2 Distance mciudes both improved and unimproved roads. 
Practically all tonnage shown for the Mount Pleasant Road also 
passes over the Courthouse Road on its way to the market or shipping 
point at Fredericksburg. From Table 7 it will be seen that the total 
annual traffic over the Courthouse and Plank Roads amounts to 
91,726 tons net. It is estimated that the total traffic on the River 
Road is about one-fourth of the total tonnage on the other two roads, 
or 22,930 tons annually, which makes a total traffic passing over the 
bond-built roads of the county of 114,656 tons net. 
In ascertaining the tonnage and the ton-mileage passing over the 
roads no computation was made of the motor-vehicle traffic, except 
a count of the number of motor cars, but it is worth while to mention 
that on a tonnage basis and at an average weight of 1.45 tons fora 
total of 18,980 cars passing over the roads in the year, with an average 
distance traveled of 9.8 miles, the automobile traffic represented 
27,521 tons, or 271,511 ton-miles, a traffic equivalent to 29 per cent 
of the net ton-mileage of products hauled. Thus m a strictly rural 
county the motor traffic has already assumed striking proportions. 
The total net ton-mileage on the bond-built roads, exclusive of 
automobile traffic, the approximate cost of moving this tonnage before 
