What help does your county get from your state for road improvement?

What supervision does your state exercise over road improvement?

Are there toll roads in your county or state?

Toll roads were once common in this country.  Why have tolls been generally abandoned?

Who has charge of bridge construction in your county?

From what sources does the money come for road repair in your county?

What is the cost of hauling on the roads of your county?  How does this cost compare with the cost in neighboring counties and states?

Relation of land values in your county to the character of the roads.

MONEY VALUE OF GOOD ROADS

Good roads pay, in dollars and cents, provided they are made of suitable materials and with due regard to the kind and amount of traffic they are to carry.  They permit of larger loads, and more loads in a given time; they save wear and tear on horses, harness, wagons, and automobiles; in the case of automobiles they save gasoline; they save the time of the farmer; they make possible a more varied agriculture by making marketing easier; they add to the value of the land.

GOOD ROADS AND COMMUNITY LIFE

But good roads pay in many other ways than in dollars and cents.  In Spotsylvania County, as in other counties investigated at the same time, the improvement of the roads was followed by a decided improvement in school attendance.  In more than one case it led to the improvement of the quality of the schools by the consolidation of a number of poor, one-room schoolhouses into a single larger school with better equipment and better teachers (see Chapter xix).  The relation between good roads and good schools is clearly suggested in one of the illustrations in this chapter.  So, also, good roads increase the ease with which the people of the community may associate with one another, attend church or community meetings at the schoolhouse, and enjoy the social life and entertainment of the neighboring city or village.  When the road is improved, the farmers along the way are more likely to keep the weeds cut, to repair broken fences or build new ones, and otherwise to beautify the adjoining premises, which adds both to the money value of property and to the enjoyment of life.

ROAD MAKING A COOPERATIVE ENTERPRISE

Road making is necessarily a cooperative enterprise.  In the first place, a public road serves the common interest of the entire community.  The community may, through its government, exercise the right of eminent domain, taking land from adjacent farms for the purpose of laying out a new road, provided, of course, that the farmers are paid for it.  In the second place, the making of a road is far too costly and difficult for an individual farmer to undertake for the benefit he himself would derive from it.  It requires a great deal of labor and a high degree of technical skill.