Question 13. Whether good road or highway construction has to any degree been substituted for railway branch lines or feeders to railroads; whether railroads, where under private ownership, contribute in any way, by tax or contribution, directly or indirectly, toward road construction.

Answer. To our knowledge at no place good road or highway construction has been substituted for railway branch lines, but in many Cantons the railroads are permitted to use the street road, whereby in many places it became necessary to broaden the roads; for example, the Worb-Berne electric road, the railway Berne-Zollikofen in the Canton of Berne, the railway of Lausanne-Echallens in the Canton of Vaud, the road of Lucerne-Emmenbrücke in the Canton of Lucerne, and the road from Frauenfeld-Wyl in the Canton of Thurgau, and some others. The railroads which are using the roads have, in most cases, to maintain the surface of the road used by them; whether there have been paid taxes for such use, we do not know.

Question 14. Average length of highway haul for produce or other commodities from point of origin to destination, excluding rail and water haul.

Answer. Impossible to give information on this point.

Question 15. National and local sources and methods of raising revenue for highway construction and maintenance.

Answer. At the time of construction of new roads, the communities (municipalities) and private individuals have to pay contributions in accordance with the respective laws of the various Cantons. In the Canton of Vaud, for example, all the communities situated along the road have to pay contributions; those which are closer to the main place are paying higher contributions than those which are situated farther off from the main place. The main roads are, as already stated, maintained either by the State (Canton) alone or with the higher or lower financial aid of the municipalities. The less important roads are maintained by the local authorities with the financial aid of the Cantons. Municipal roads are maintained by the communities alone. In the Canton of Berne, the State (Canton) pays the wages to roadmasters and principal roadmaster of the less important roads (IV class), and it has for that purpose expended in the year 1911 the sum of 69,346.35 francs on a road length of 502 kilometers, or 138 francs per kilometer.

Question 16. Explain system of estimates, accounting and cost keeping, tracing road funds from origin to final audit and approval, submitting such forms and reports as are customarily used; also table of salaries and administrative personnel.

Answer. The accounting concerning roads is done, in about all the Cantons, in the cantonal bureau of accounts. If the construction of a road is decided and the projects made by the cantonal officials or by other technical experts, and the project as well as the estimate of costs approved, and the necessary allowances made by the cantonal government or by the local authorities, then, with about no exceptions, the publication for competition is ordered. The one who makes the lowest, or about the lowest, offer is intrusted with the construction, if he offers sufficient guaranty in technical as well as in financial regard of his ability to finish the work satisfactorily.

The construction is supervised by cantonal officials, and, if it concerns roads contributed to by the confederation, also by officials of the federal division of public construction. The compensation of cantonal technical officials amounts to from 4,500 to 10,000 francs per annum; of the federal technical officials the compensation amounts to from 5,200 to 10,000 francs per annum.

Question 17. Any concrete information obtainable where highway improvements have increased the value of abutting and contiguous property, and the percentage of such increase in value.

Answer. Impossible to answer this question.

(Signed) VON MORLOT, The Super-Inspector General of the Federal Division of Construction.

BERNE, November 13, 1912.

WM. WALKER SMITH,
Chargé d'Affaires.

COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS OF FOREIGN REPORTS.

ADMINISTRATION.

All of the countries from which reports have been received, except Germany and Canada, grant some form of national aid to the construction or care of roads. England has a system which seems to be very slightly centralized. The aid granted by the General Government is first by way of an annual appropriation or subsidy for the aid of local expenses, the proportion of this fund to be expended on roads being largely discretionary with the local authorities. Within the past few years a Government road board has been established through which direct grants or loans are made for the construction of new roads. It seems that new roads, in the sense used in the English report, would not be restricted to the opening up of new rights of way, as there could be very little necessity for additional roads. The extent of supervision by the General Government in England would seem to be rather slight. The tendency, however, is to a greater Government activity in this respect, as indicated by the establishment of the Government road board.

The French system, on the other hand, might well be termed highly centralized, as the national roads, some 24,000 miles in extent, are entirely under the direction of the General Government, while the remainder of the road system, some 340,000 miles in extent, is under the direction of the department authorities. France is divided into 86 departments. The fact that the prefect or governor of each department is appointed by the General Government, and that the engineers of the Government corps of roads and bridges are constantly consulted and their services utilized in connection with the roads in about half of the departments, and the further fact, that all public engineering works involving an expenditure of $20,000 or more must be submitted to a board of engineers at Paris, emphasize, to a marked degree, the centralization of the French system. The French organization, from the inspector general down through the various

grades, to the patrolmen in charge of short sections of road, appears to be compact, highly trained, and with lines of responsibility clearly defined. The French road system, as at present constituted, requires a very large force of officials and employees. If, for comparison, we consider the same system as applied to the great mileage of roads in the United States, the resultant organization would assume very large proportions. Italy, Spain, Belgium, Austria, and Russia all have administrative road systems which might be classed as centralized in character. The direct control exercised by the Russian Government, however, seems to apply to only a small mileage (8,326 miles) in proportion to her vast area.

The Scandinavian countries, Norway, Sweden, and Denmark, appear to have composite systems, in which the general direction and approval rests with the Central Government, while the direct supervision rests with the local units.

As an example of conditions and policies in the sparsely settled countries, the government of New Zealand has adopted the policy of making loans at very low rates of interest for the construction of roads and provides for the liquidation of these loans by benefit districts in which the lands benefited are assessed in proportion to the benefits derived.

In Canada, the administration of roads is left with the various Provinces. It appears, however, from a report received from Ottawa, that the subject of participation in road work by the Canadian Government is now under consideration.

Germany, prior to the general introduction of the railroads, maintained a system of national roads, but later these were turned over to the various Kingdoms and States comprising the German Empire, and have since been maintained as State roads.

Aside from the basic policy in the administration of the public roads, there are some details in connection with the various administrative systems which are worthy of special mention. The first of these is the patrol system of maintenance, which seems to be quite general throughout the European countries and which is being constantly extended. The cardinal points of difference between the patrol system of maintenance and the systems or methods in general use in this country are: (a) That the patrol system provides continuous maintenance as compared with intermittent or occasional maintenance in this country; (b) that it provides systematic maintenance in that each section of road is a part of a system and the work done is in line with a general plan worked out by higher officials and correlated with all other sections; (c) it provides skilled serviceas the patrolmen are constantly employed and make the care of the roads practically their life work. The patrol system would be quite expensive, however, in this country, on account of the higher rate of wages which must be paid here as compared with European countries, but whether or not the system justifies the additional outlay can only be determined by more thorough comparison.

A distinctive feature of the French system is the school of roads and bridges to which are admitted graduates of the polytechnic school after competitive examination and in which the course of instruction is designed to fit the young engineers for service as members of the French corps of roads and bridges. The students of the school are paid a sufficient salary to cover their expenses, and,

upon graduation, are made underengineers. This system results in a very high standard of efficiency on the part of the French highway engineers.

Another important feature of the French system of granting aid to the various communes for the construction of roads is that the aid is proportionate to the needs of the commune and ranges from 10 per cent of the cost of the proposed improvement in the case of wealthier communes, to 85 per cent of the cost in the case of the poorest communes; the basis for arriving at the proportion of aid to be granted is ascertained by dividing the wealth of the commune by its area.

COST OF CONSTRUCTION AND MAINTENANCE.

The information concerning cost of road construction in foreign countries is comparatively meager, as there are so many variable factors entering into the cost of construction as to make a reliable average difficult to establish. For example, the amount of grading varies enormously between roads in mountainous regions and those in level countries, and frequently within a small area a wide variation in grading costs may be encountered. The same conditions hold good with reference to drainage conditions. The width and thickness of the road surfacing determine the quantity of material used. The cost of labor is also a large factor. It would seem, however, that the best type of road in France, the national highway, costs, according to estimates supplied by M. Pulligny, director of the French mission of engineers in the United States, about $12,400 per mile. These roads have a width between ditches of about 461⁄2 feet, while the metaled portion is usually from 16 to 20 feet.

The cost of the best type of road in Denmark is given as about $8,600 per mile, in 1910; in Norway about $8,000; in Spain, something over $10,000; in Russia, nearly $11,000, while in Switzerland the cost is higher on account of the great amount of excavation on the mountain roads, a conservative estimate being about $15,000 per mile. Since nearly all of these estimates cover either an average or typical example selected about two years ago, we should probably assume that the cost is now at least 10 per cent higher. It would therefore appear that there is little difference between the cost of road construction in this country and abroad, and this condition may be accounted for by the fact that while labor is very much cheaper in Europe than in this country, labor-saving devices and equipment are more generally employed here than abroad, thus tending to equalize costs. To indicate how nearly the construction costs in this country approach those of Europe, it may be stated that the Massachusetts State highway commission reports the best example of plain macadam, constructed under its direction, as a little over $10,000 per mile; bituminous macadam, penetration method, $12,500; bituminous macadam, mixed method, $14,300 per mile. New Jersey reports the best example of plain macadam, bituminous binder, about $11,000 per mile. New York reports macadam with an asphalt grout, at $13,700. A report submitted by the engineer at Terre Haute, Ind., gives crushed stone with bituminous binder at $12,950 per mile. Delaware reports the average cost of hard-surfaced roads from April,

1903, to the present time as $8,715 per mile. There are numerous examples of roads constructed at much lower cost, but such roads represent exceptionally favorable conditions or much lighter types of construction than the roads constructed by European Governments and the States mentioned.

The reports on cost of maintenance of roads in European countries can not be taken as affording an absolute basis of comparison for the reason that practices differ as to what comprises maintenance. For example, resurfacing of an entire section of road might be termed maintenance, extraordinary repair, or reconstruction. The headquarters or office expenses of a large organization might be prorated over the mileage of roads and charged as part of the maintenance cost or it might not be so considered. In spite of these difficulties, however, some instructive information has been obtained, from which it appears that the national roads of Austria are maintained at a cost of about $311 per mile per annum. In England and Wales the cost is about $389 per mile per annum; in France $285; in Italy $275; in Spain $231. The annual outlay, therefore, ranges between a minimum of $231 and maximum of $389, which, considering the necessary variation due to differences in wages, etc., shows a reasonable degrée of uniformity. As these figures are for the most part for 1910, and as the cost of maintenance has been steadily increasing because of the more general use of the motor vehicle, it is probable that maintenance costs for the best class of roads in Europe should be figured at not less than $300 and probably averaging nearly $400 per mile per annum. No maintenance costs of sufficiently general application in this country are available to institute a comparison which would apply to any large section of the United States, but it seems to be the general impression among highway engineers based upon experience in some of the States that with maintenance properly organized and applied to a considerable mileage of roads, the cost would be in the neighborhood of $500 to $600 per mile per annum.

It must be remembered that while labor-saving equipment would tend to equalize cost of construction as between this country and Europe, it would not be a sufficient factor in maintenance to offset the difference in cost of labor as this is the largest element in the maintenance of roads and we must of necessity figure a considerably higher percentage in this country than in Europe.

MILEAGE OF ROADS.

France, with about 364,000 miles of road, has the largest road system of any country reporting. As the area of France is about 207,000 miles, this would give about 13 miles of road per square mile of area. There is a considerable additional mileage of roads (estimated at 155,000 miles) which is not officially included in the French system and comprises unimportant neighborhood roads.

England and Wales, with an area of 58,575 square miles, have about 151,000 miles of roads, or a little over 2 miles of road per square mile of area. The other countries reporting, with the execption of Denmark, show less than a mile of road per square mile of area, but it is doubtful if in all cases these reports include complete mileage. Comparing the road mileage of England and France with that of the United States, it would appear that, based upon an approximate