Iron County Record | 1921-04-29 | Page 6 | State Road Help Old Idea

STATE ROAD HELP OLD IDEA First Money Paid for Highway improvement im-provement Made by Kentucky 75 Years Aqo. (t Is ortcn said that tho use of stnto money for tho construction of roads Is of qulto recent origin, says a bulletin bulle-tin from the Amerlcun Highway association. asso-ciation. Tho New Jersey state aid law of 1801 is Hotnetlmes referred to as tho llr,st Instance of such use of state funds In this country. As a matter of fact, stato monoy was spent for such purposes more thnn 70 years ugo. Kentucky paid out over $2,000,-000 $2,000,-000 for rond improvements between 1820 and IS 10 under tho direction of a stntp highway engineer, who drew a salary of $.r,000 a year, a very largo sum for those days. The roads built then wero 24 to '80 feet wide between the ditches. Tho surfaces wero constructed of broken stone, nnd tho bottoms wero of large stones wedged together to mnke whnt road builders cull a telford foundation. About 1S."0 business conditions In the country became bad aud this work stopped. When It wan resumed In 1003 such a long period nnd elnpsed slnco tho earlier state nld work that 1I)0S Is usually fixed ns the beginning of stuto road work In Kentucky.