Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 17.djvu/197

EOAD. increase in urban population, in general prosper- ity, and in municipal inipruvcnicnts, which iol- lowed the Civil War, was laiycly responsible for the beginning of improved city streets. These led to better roads, and from better roads it was only a step to the agitation for good roads tlat assumed such great proportions in the Uniteil States from about 18110 onward. This, in ttirn, was largely due to the widespread use of the bi- cycle. Prior to the general movements for good roads some towns in Kssex County. N. J., began to improve their streets. In 1808 Orange, N. J., laid a Kj-inch Telford road and in 1871 E.ssex County, in which Orange is situated, began the construction of an improved system of country roads. Road Laws — Development of CiooD Roads. In 1889 a general county road law was passed by the New .Jersey Legislature. This permitted counties, after certain legal formalities, to issue bonds for broken stone or hard road construction and to assess one-third of the cost upon property abutting on the line of the road. In 1891 New Jersey passed a State Aid or State Highway law, which was the beginning of systematic road im- provement in the United States under the direc- tion of State officials and with the aid of State funds. The law being defective, it was reenact- ed in 1892, and on December "27 of that year the State of New .Jersey paid $20,6G2 to Middlesex County to help meet the cost of 10.55 miles of broken-stone roads. This was the first money paid by the State under the amended act, and the first direct State aid to the good roads move- ment. Most of this work was done in the vicin- ity of New Bnmswick and Plainfield. At first tile commonwealth was represented by the presi- dent of the State Board of Agriculture, but after Jlay, 1894, the work was entrusted to an offi- cial known as the State Conunissioner of Public Roads. Under the act the cost of road construc- tion is divided as follows: The State pays 33.3 per cent., abutting property-owners 10 per cent., and the counties in which the improvements are located pay the remainder. The initiative rests with the owners of property abutting on the road in question, two-thirds of whom must petition the County Freeholders for the improvement. That body carries ovit the work, under the direc- tion of the County Engineer and subject to the approval of the State Commission. In 1899 the act was amended so that petitions may be filed with and work done by townships, as well as by counties. To the close of October 31. 1900. the total mileage of roads built under the New .Jersey State Aid Law was 532 and the State's contribu- tion (one-third of the total cost) had been $805.- 319. or about $1000 per mile. The State apjn-o- priations have ranged from .$75,000 to $1.50.000 a year — in 1899. Some of the money was spent for general roads, but most of it was put into broken-stone roads. The example set by New Jersey has been fol- lowed by several other States, notably Massachu- setts. In fact, Massachusetts is now in many re- s|)ects the leader in the movement for highway improvements under intelligent State direction, aided by State funds. Its Legislature appointed a committee to investigate the subject in 1892. or the next year after the first New .Jersey State Road Act. and in 1893 it established a State Highway Commission of three members. Appro- I'J^" ROAD. priations for actual construction were not nimle until 1894. To the close of 19U0 a total of 290 miles ol State highways had been improved under the -Massachusetts Act of 1893, and the Slate had appropriated more than .•!;3,."iOO,OOU for the work. (Jf this smn one-fourth was to he repaid to the State, with interest at 3 per cent., and within at least six years. The counties were to collect the one-fourth by taxation. In lUOO Massachusetts appropriated .$.')Ol).OOo for State roads (one-fourth to be repaid to It eventually), and in addition it provideii $0,000 for the sal- aries of the three conuuissioners, $17,000 for en- gineers and clerks, and $5,440 for traveling expenses and incidentals, making a total of $28,500 for salaries, engineering, and the like, besides the $500,000 for construction. In 1899 it appropriated a like sum and in 1898 half the amount, making $71,300 in addition to the $3,500,000 already named. Prior to the special appropriations the various expenses of the com- mission came out of the construction fund. The popularity of the plan in Ma.ssachusetts is shown by the fact that to the close of 1900 274 t(jwns and 25 cities had petitioned for a total of 1.334 miles of imjudveil roads, or more than four times as much as the commission had been able to build. Beginning with 1900 the cost of repairs, up to $50 a mile in each year, is to he assessed on the towns in which the road is located. The Massa- chusetts Legislature of 1000 made provision for an expenditure^ of 5 per cent, of its total appropriation, or $20,000 in that year, for grad- ing and minor improvements in small towns which had not yet received State aid. During the year 1900 the average cost of a standard mile of macadamized road was $8,957. This is for a width of 15 feet of stone, a depth gen- erally of inches, and a shoulder 3 feet wide on each side. It also includes painted guard rails at all steep embankments, and culverts of ma- sonry, iron, or vitrified clay, wlierever needed. It should be understood that the improvements are all on existing roads and do not include acquiring land or laying out and grading new roadways. Rhode Island, Connecticut, and New York have also tried the State road aid plan. Rhode Island repealed its law in 1899. In Connecticut the work began in 1895 and has been growing in popularity ever since. In 1895-90 the ex- pense of improving roads was divided equally between the State and the counties and towns in which the roads were located. In 1897-98 it was divided equally between the State and the various towns. In 1899-1900 the small towns paid one-fourth and the large towns one-third the coast, the State paying the rest. The di- viding line between large and small towns is an assessed valuation of $1,000,000. From 1895 to 1900 State aid was given in 159 of the 108 towns of the State, and in 1900 there were ap- plications from 153 towns. The total amount available to the close of 1900. including State and local funds, had been $1.317,5.')0. Connecti- cut approjjriations may be expended, in part, for grading and improving dirt roads. New York adopted the State aid plan in 1898, but was sparing in its appropriations, and con- triliuted only $250,000 from 1898 to 1900, in- clusive. The State pays one-half the cost of road improvements, the rest being divided be-