Page:Consideration for Reimbursement for Certain Highways on the Interstate System.pdf/11

Rh (prior to 1956 act apportionments), primary, urban, secondary, forest highway, etc., for highway facilities of direct service to traffic.

Costs were segregated according to source as Federal and non-Federal funds, and were further segregated into four items of expenditure: right-of-way, grading and miscellaneous, surface and base, and structures.

Included in the costs of right-of-way were those for purchase of land, property damage, costs in lieu of purchase, and the like. The administrative expense of acquisition was excluded.

The “grading and miscellaneous item” includes costs of all excavation, minor drainage, shoulders, landscaping, traffic services, retaining walls, sidewalks, and other work not included elsewhere.

Costs of structures, including grade separations, bridges, and tunnels, are for those over 20 feet in length. Those of lesser length were included in grading and miscellaneous costs.

Depreciation

Depreciation rates used in this study were applied uniformly for all States and to the costs of toll roads and free roads alike. The original cost of each portion of highway was broken down into cost items and identified as to age on June 30, 1957. The cost items and their depreciation rates are as follows:

These percentages were arrived at by the deliberate judgment of the Bureau of Public Roads and the Advisory Committee of the American Association of State Highway Officials, based on consideration of all available information on experience in the depreciation of investment on high-type primary highways.

The depreciation rates were applied directly to the original cost new without adjustments for price changes or increases in value. Thus, for a portion of road completed in October 1953, the average age on June 30, 1957, was 3.7 years. The depreciation for the various cost items would be zero for right-of-way, 3.7 percent for grading and miscellaneous, 11.1 percent for surface and base, and 7.4 percent for structures.

Total depreciation for all work covered by this study was rather small, less than 3 percent. This is because about two-thirds of the construction costs covered by this study were less than 2 years of age.

FINDINGS OF THE STUDY

In the approximate 10-year period covered by this study, from August 2, 1947, to June 30, 1957, improvements were made in varying degrees on 10,859 miles of the Interstate System at a cost of $6,096 million. A number of nationwide summary tables are presented in this section of the report. Corresponding State-by-State tabulations will be found in the appendix.

Mileage

Twenty-six States reported construction on 1,950 miles of toll roads incorporated into the Interstate System. All of the States, except