The new section of the Lafayette Road is now completed, and in future will need only ordinary appropriations for maintenance. The portions of this road that were originally town roads, however, should be graded and widened somewhat, as they are much inferior to the new section. The Dixville Road has been greatly improved, a new iron beam bridge erected and the branch from a point near “The Balsams" to the Colebrook town line has been constructed. In addition to the amount expended on these Dixville roads, an equal if not greater sum has been furnished and expended by private enterprises. The improvements made on the mountain roads are very conspicuous to the interested observer and much credit is due to those who have given their valuable time, without recompense, to directly supervise the work. Several miles of these roads have been widened, so that where previously the opportunity for two carriages to meet and pass safely were rare, the opposite condition now exists. The large and annually increasing amount of travel over these roads in the summer months calls for a continuation of this work, and will soon require better surface material on some sections than that now existing. GENERAL. It has been the aim of the State Engineer to get a dollar in value for every dollar expended and also to study local conditions, requirements and the preferences of the people immediately affected before recommending the selection of any road or roads for improvement, and before determining the nature of improvement to be made and the kind of surface material to be used. Our state aid law is radically different from that adopted in other states, hence no precedent, information or assistance could be obtained by examining the forms and methods used in other states. The time required to inaugurate and systematize a satisfactory plan for carrying out the requirements of the law prevented early construction of roads in 1905, but the organization has been gradually perfected so that all of the requirements of the law can now be carried out with promptness and satisfaction. The necessity for expending much time in rendering advice, instruction and assistance to town authorities and to inexperienced foremen and supervisors has entailed considerable expense in the administration of the law, but as local authorities become familiar with the law and with the proper methods of constructing roads, such expense decreases and should be considerably less in the coming than in the past year. There has been some discussion relative to the advisability of constructing gravel roads instead of macadam roads in many localities. There are some localities where an abundance of good gravel exists and many drivers prefer gravel to drive over, rather than macadam. Gravel, however hard it is rolled during construction, will ravel during a dry season, and ruts will form to some extent under very dry conditions, and when the frost is coming out in the Spring of the year. Wheels, however, will not penetrate very deep in any season, provided the road is not neglected. With the number of miles of road in the state and the amount of money annually appropriated by the state and by the towns, it is impossible to build macadam roads in all localities, and even if such were possible it would not be advisable, for the towns would not be financially able to continue the work from year to year. Unless the work of extension of the short pieces of road is carried on each year, no satisfactory results are obtained, hence in determining the kind of surface material to be used, large consideration should be given to the financial ability of the towns to continue the work on the same general plan as first inaugrated. |