OCR Text |
Show STATE TO MAINTAIN ROADS Amount Exceeding $160,000,000 Expended Ex-pended Annually for Construction and Care of Highways. The realization has become quite general that, in order to render maximum maxi-mum service, state highway departments depart-ments should be given some measure of control over the construction and maintenance of local roads. For this class of roads an amount exceeding $16,000,000 is expended annually, with comparatively little result to show in the form of improved road mileage for this great outlay. The state of Iowa has met this situation by placing all the road work in the state under the direction of the state highway department. depart-ment. Traffic is increasing so rapidly as to cause excessive wear upon the roads, especially in the vicinity of congested centers of population. This results in a heavy annual maintenance cost, averaging in the large Eastern states not less than $750 per mile per annum. Many experiments have been made in the effort to devise types of road which can be maintained at relatively low cost. Thus far, aside from the cheaper forms of construction, the states arc depending upon the various form3 of bituminous macadam, concrete con-crete and vitrified brick road. |