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Show ROAD CONSTRUCTION IN UNITED STATES The chief of the United States bureau bu-reau of public roads, Thomas H. Mac-Donald, Mac-Donald, is in constant touch with the road-building programs of the states and is ever watchful for the Interests of the federal-aid appropriations before be-fore congress each year. "The estimate of $91,000,000 to be put under contract the current fiscal year," said Chief MacPonnld, "it Is believed will be reached, with the probability of an Increase for 1925 to $94,000,000. Tills latter figure is contingent con-tingent upon conditions in fields of other construction, rail transportation and labor. Public road work is retarded re-tarded when there is a large construction construc-tion program of a private character and accelerated when the other construction con-struction work decreases The gen-.eral gen-.eral tendency of the federal-aid road work at this time Is upward. "If the estimate of $94,000,000 to go under construction for 1925 is not reached, but is reduced by $5,000,000, or even $10,000,000, the balance available avail-able for new construction would not be sufficient to carry any reasonable program for 192G, and that was the reason for the liberal appropriation made by congress at this session. "One of the fundamental principles of the federal budget plan is elimination elimina-tion of waste and inefficiency in the expenditure of public funds. There is probably no other field of public expenditure ex-penditure in which at this time greater savings are possible through efficient administration. Efficient administration administra-tion and organization demand positively positive-ly first, a continuing road program, and, second, foreknowledge of the dimensions di-mensions of the future annual program." pro-gram." In discussing the road-building achievements since the passage of the federal-aid act, Chief MacDonald said: "Up to March 1 of this year the federal aid highways which have been completed since 1916 totaled 33,036 miles, and 13,800 miles were under construction and reported as 59 per cent complete. The total roads completed com-pleted and under construction amounted, amount-ed, therefore, to 40,836 miles. Of the mileage reported as completed on February Feb-ruary 29, 1924, 6,307 miles had been completed during the current fiscal year. All but. a very small percentage of this mileage is on the federal aid highway system as now established. "In addition to the roads of the system sys-tem improved with federal aid, parts of It have been improved without federal fed-eral assistance. A careful study Is being made of the improvement status of the system, and an approximate estimate based upon these incomplete studies is that at the end of the year there were about 60,000 miles of surfaced sur-faced roads and 8,700 miles graded, which leaves nearly 110,000 miles ff the federal system yet to be surfaced. "To bring this system up to serviceable service-able standards, therefore, within the full decade ahead, would mean a surfacing sur-facing program of about 11,000 miles for each of the ten years this in addition addi-tion to the additions to the system, the separation of grade-crossings, reconstruction recon-struction and much other necessary work." That road construction Is progressing progress-ing throughout the country without federal aid as well as with It Is demonstrated dem-onstrated by statistics available to the bureau of roads, which show that total to-tal expenditures in 1921, a banner road year, for all rural highways and city streets for all places with a population of 2,500 and over, including all street and alley surface construction, repair, maintenance, street cleaning and street lighting, was $1,419,506,853. |