HIGHWAY BONDS. 29 
Failure of bond issues.—Instances are not lacking where bond 
issues for highway purposes have proved failures. These instances 
are invariably due to mismanagement rather than to defective 
principle. Where counties have issued highway bonds the proceeds 
of which have been spent to construct temporary road surfaces on 
unimproved grades and without proper drainage, failure has neces- 
sarily resulted. There are on record in the Office of Public Roads 
instances where so-called macadam roads have been built with bond 
money by simply dumping broken stone at the wrong time of the 
year on muddy road surfaces without grades or alignments and 
without rolling or binding. (Cf. Pl. I, fig. 2.) 
A typical method of mismanagement is to distribute the funds 
equally on all the roads in the county or district issuing the bonds. 
Recently in a southern State $40,000 was distributed equally over 
nearly 90 miles of highway in a certain district. After deducting 
necessary overhead expenses this sum was equivalent to about $400 
per mile. Obviously no permanent results could be obtained from 
such a distribution. - In another county, where heavy rains and 
severe winters could not fail to make the roads nearly impassable 
with the superficial construction adopted, bonds were issued to the 
amount of $300,000. The money was devoted to light grading on 
an excessive mileage without any attempt at surfacing. 
Through a misunderstanding of the essential principles underlying 
the establishment of a proper county road system, conflicts of interest 
sometimes arise which cause the failure of the bond issue plan. The 
location of the roads to be improved should not be determined by 
argument, but upon sound engineering and economic principles. 
Before a community votes to issue bonds for highways it is necessary 
to understand thoroughly what roads are to be improved and the 
approxunate cost of their construction and maintenance. Too fre- 
quently ill-advised locations are adopted. 
Need for highway engineers.—Highway plans for bond issues 
require expert skill and professional service. Before the amount of 
bonds is determined, a thorough study of the needs of the county 
should be made and careful maps of the proposed highway system 
should be prepared. The sum to be issued should not be fixed until 
it is reasonably known what it will accomplish. It is customary for 
many counties to appoint a commission of business men under whose 
jurisdiction the bond money is expended. In other cases the county 
supervisor or county commissioner has the direction of expenditures. 
The best results have always followed where such commissions or 
county boards have secured the services of a highway engineer. 
Guided by the costly experience of many communities, it is now 
becoming common for counties to adopt this plan. In all engineering 
construction it is customary to allow a certain percentage of the cost 
