ECONOMIC SURVEYS OF COUNTY HIGHWAY IMPROVEMENT. 5 
were voted was under the control of the State highway department, 
and it appears that excellent results were obtained commensurate with 
the outlay of funds; but the Virginia law was evidently defective in 
that no provision was made for a competent authority to make esti- 
mates and to give advice preliminary to the issuance of bonds. The 
Virginia Legislature has since, at its 1916 session, enacted legislation 
covering this point. The experience of the counties covered by these 
studies indicates the wisdom of a statute in each State requiring a 
reliable estimate upon which bond elections should be based. 
The road construction in these counties would seem to bear out 
the assertion which has often been made that from 20 to 25 per cent 
of the total road mileage of a county, if wisely distributed, will 
serve traffic needs to the extent of at least 80 or 85 per cent of the 
total. In one of the counties included in these studies it will be 
noted that the mileage is excessively large in comparison with the 
ton-mileage hauled over the improved roads. In this case it would 
seem that the county has overbuilt its improved-road system and 
that a lesser mileage would have served its traffic needs. 
A question partly of management and partly of finance is involved 
in the experience of the eight counties in regard to road maintenance. 
It is a well-known fact that the general tendency throughout the 
United States is to neglect the maintenance of roads which have, in 
many cases, been built at great expense. In the study of these eight 
counties it was found that Franklin County, N. Y., and Lauderdale 
County, Miss., were most effectively meeting the problem of main- 
tenance. In the case of Franklin County the State was directly 
concerned in the maintenance of the roads and had complete 
control over such work on some of the roads and an indirect con- 
trol over other roads, thus applying to the task a skilled manage- 
ment, the details of which are explained in the chapter on Franklin 
Ane In Lauderdale County, Miss., the work is conducted under 
an excellent provision of law which spnuies that an amount of not 
less than 1 mill on the dollar shall be levied to provide a maintenance 
fund for all of the roads constructed by means of bond issues, and 
this fund is to be kept separate from all other county funds and can 
be used only for maintenance. Asa result of this law the Lauderdale. 
County roads are not only in as good condition to-day as when com- 
pleted, but have been actually improved. Thus the county’s invest- 
ment in good roads has not been allowed to deteriorate in the slightest 
degree. 
The 1916 Virginia Legislature has met the maintenance situation 
by providing that an annual tax of not less than 3 per cent of the 
amount of bonds issued shall be levied to provide a maintenance 
fund. A conspicuous example of an emergency situation with ref- 
erence to road maintenance is afforded by Spotsylvania County, where 
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