8 BULLETIN 136, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 
is to divide the total number of tons by the number of hauling days, 
which is usually taken at 300. With an acreage yield of 200 pounds 
there result 16 tons per day which may be assumed to move an 
average distance of 8 miles. This would make a total of 128 ton- 
miles daily. The daily average weight over the entire road is there- 
fore about 10.7 tons. The tonnage hauled is the most direct and 
reliable basis from which to determine the economic value of a road. 
(See Table 2.) 
It is common to find that when a poor market road is improved 
the cost of hauling is reduced by from 2 to 10 cents per ton-mile. The 
saving to the community during a year can then be readily computed 
for each mile. (See Pl. III, fig. 2.) 
Table 3 shows the annual saving per mile and the capitalized 
amount of this annual saving at 5 per cent interest for daily traffic 
varying from 5 to 80 tons. 
TABLE 3.—Annual saving per mile in hauling costs at 5 cents per ton-mile reduction. 
Total pee Total : 
Tons per | saved in Cabier Tons per | saved in Capitar 
day. year Of | 5 3 cent day. yearot jpeeeoas t 
300 days. | ° P 300 days. |.2 PEt cene- 
5 $75 $1, 500 45 $675 $13, 500 
10 150 3, 000 50 750 15, 000 
15 225 4,500 55 825 16, 500 
20 300 6, 000 60 900 18, 000 
25 3795 7, 500 65 975 19, 500 
30 450 9, 000 70 1, 050 21, 000 
30 525 10, 500 75 1, 125 22, 500 
40 600 12, 000 80 1, 200 24, 000 
If the roads do not radiate uniformly from a town it is evident 
that in a uniformly producing area the traffic lost to one road must 
go over some adjoining road. However produce is distributed along 
the road, in general, the portion of the road nearer the market will 
receive much more use than the distant portion. The first few miles 
of radial road from a town are also much used by vehicles other 
than market vehicles. 
Although a very important matter, the average haul on a market 
roadis somewhat difficult to determine. It may be estimated from 
the maximum hau! or the known radius of the traffic area,t and may | 
usually be assumed to be two-thirds of the average maximum haul. 
To show further the service which market roads render to a com- 
munity, there is given in Table 4 the yearly and daily tonnage pass- 
1Tn Bulletin No. 49 of the Bureau of Statistics of the U. S. Department of Agriculture, entitled “Cost 
of Hauling Crops from the Farms to Shipping Points,’’ the average haul is assumed to be the radius of 
the circle whose area is one-half the area of a circle whose radius is the maximum haul. The average haul 
is then about seventy-one hundredths of the maximum haul. If all produce on a traffic area of one-sixth 
of a complete circle were hauled directly from the point where it originates to the market at the center, 
the resulting average haul would be sixty-seven hundredths of the maximum haul, which is the radius of 
the sector. If all produce were first concentrated on the middle radius of the sector, the average haul 
resulting would be sixty-four hundredths of the radius. 
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