16 BULLETIN 387, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 
FLORIDA. 
By J. P. Clarkson, Collaborator United States Office of Public Roads and Rural En- 
gineering. 
Florida has a land area of 54,861 square miles, a total road mileage 
of 17,995, and a population, according to the 1910 Census, of 752,619. 
The State, therefore, has a population of 13.71 per square mile of 
area and 41.82 per mile of road, with 0.33 mile of road per square 
mile of area. Of the population in 1910, 70.9 per cent, or 533,539, was 
rural, a rural population of 29.65 per mile of road. 
A State road department to consist of five persons, one 
from each congressional district, appointed by the governor, subject 
to confirmation by the State senate, was created in 1915. The mem- 
bers of the department elect annually from their membership a 
chairman and a secretary. The department is required to employ 
some person well versed in road building to be State road commis- 
sioner, and may employ also necessary clerical and engineering assist- 
ants. Fifteen per cent of all county motor vehicle licenses is paid 
into the State treasury for the maintenance of the State road depart- 
ment. The work of the department is mostly of an advisory nature. 
General jurisdiction over roads and bridges in the several counties 
vests in the boards of county commissioners, composed of one com- 
missioner elected from each of the five districts into which each 
county is divided. Each county commissioner's district constitutes 
a road district, and it is the duty of the county board of commis- 
sioners at its January meeting each year to appoint three commis- 
sioners for roads and bridges in each district. The road commissioners 
lay off the roads in their respective districts into subdivisions of con- 
venient length and appoint an overseer for each subdivision. Each 
board of commissioners is authorized to employ a county engineer, 
who, subject to the orders of said board, has general supervision and 
control of all road and bridge work of the county. On petition of 
25 per cent of the duly registered voters who are freeholders residing 
within territory which it is desired to have constituted a " special 
road and bridge district," the board of county commissioners shall 
call an election to determine whether such district shall be created 
and whether funds for improving the roads therein shall be raised 
by a special tax or by a bond issue. All work in "special road and 
bridge districts" is under the supervision and control of the board of 
county commissioners. Special tax road districts are created by a 
majority vote at an election called for that purpose on petition of 
one-fourth of the qualified electors who pay taxes on real and per- 
sonal property and reside in the district. In addition, a number of 
special road laws have been enacted and are in force in many counties. 
Boards of county commissioners are authorized to levy a general 
road tax of not to exceed 8 mills on each $1 of real and personal prop- 
