Page:Historical and Biographical Annals of Columbia and Montour Counties, Pennsylvania, Containing a Concise History of the Two Counties and a Genealogical and Biographical Record of Representative Families.pdf/70

 COI-UMBIA AND MONTOUR COUNTIES The department w as organized in Ju ly, and the State divided into fourteen dis­ tricts, District No. 3 consisting o f Columbia, Luzenie, Montour, Northun)l>crland, Snyder and Union counties, with headquarters at Bloomsburg. T he State H ighw ay head­ quarters is at Harrisburg, the olHcers consist­ ing o f Edw ard M . Bigelow, State highway commissioner; Joseph W. Hunter, first dcfv uty State highway commissioner; E . A . Jones, second deputy State highway commissioner; Samuel D . Foster, chief engineer; H oward W. Fry, ch ief clerk; and W. R . D. H all, statisti­ cian. T h e field work is under the direction of a bridge engineer, fifteen assistant engineers, and fifty superintendents. The auditing de­ partment is under the charge o f a certified ac­ countant, and the maintenance department is under the direction o f a competent engineer. In addition to the work done in the counties of Columbia and Montour, considerable work was done upon the historic highway in the southern part of the State, known as the " N a ­ tional R o a d " or "Cumberland Turnpike.” This road was built by the United States gov­ ernment in the years 1804 to 18 14, and con­ nected Baltim ore, Md., with Alton, 1]]. The highway department has improved almost the entire length o f this road through Pennsylv*ania, and intends to make it a model road o f modem construction. T he great width o f this road is a standing rebuke to the "skim py” methods of the road builders of the past in this State. The funds expended by the highway depart­ ment in the years 1 9 12 - 1 3 were derived from the follow ing sources: State h ia h w sy fund appropriation ................ $3,000,000 A u tom ob ile tax receipts appropriated t,8oolooo Stare*aid a p p ro p ria tio n .................................. tvooo.ooo Balance State-aid appropriation. 1907-1900. O60642 S u te *a id funda returned by counties and tow nships ..................................................... 410.050 S*aiiona1 R oa d appropriation......................... 300.000 E xperim ents and tests fund a p p rop ria tion .. 50.000 T r a v e lin g fund appropriation....................... w .o o o Com in sen t fund appropriation ..................... 79.000 Expense fund, autom obile d iv is io n ................ imxooo

T he roatls placet! under the care of the State highway commission aggregated 8.827 niilcs. and the difTeretit classes o f construction arc as follow s: Rrick. asphaltic-concrctc. asphaltk-macadam. watcrbound-macadam, and con­ crete. There were 2 f^ main Slate highway routes and 306 alternate lines, the average cost o f surveying j>er mile l>eing S47.87. plotting S i t. 36 per mile, and checking and tracing $7.96 |>cr mile. Tn addition to surveying the

41

State highways, 3 5 .5 12 miles o f country roads were surveyed and maps prepared showing the roads, towns, villages and other important places in the districts. T he average expense fo r maintenance of approximately 6,000 miles o f roads in 19 12 - 13 w as $ 16 0 per mile. The following numbered routes of the State highways are those passing through Columbia and Montour counties: Route No. 2, Sunbur)* to D anville; No. 3, Dan­ ville to Bloom sburg; N o. 4, Bloomsburg to W ilkes-Barre via B e rw ick; No. i6, Blooms­ burg to Laporte via Benton; No. i6 t, Fottsvillc to Sunbury via Centralia; No. 183, Bloomsburg to Pottsville via Catawissa and C entralia; No. 185, Laporte to W ilkes-Barre via Benton; No. 239. Bloomsburg to Williams­ port via M illville and Scrcn o; N o. 240, W il­ liamsport to Danville via W ashingtonville; No. 249, Bloomsburg to Lock Haven via Still­ w ater, Rohrsburg, M illville, Jerseytown, W ^ite H all and E xch an ge; No. 259, Danville to Lcw isburg via M ooresburg; No. 283, Bloomsburg to Sunbury* via C^tawLssa and Pensyl's M ill; No. 303, Iota to Muncy via Pine Sum m it; No. 3 2 1, Laporte to Benton, and over route No. t6 to Bloom sbutg; No. 327, Bloomsbury to Berw ick via Almedia, Espy, Lim e Ridge and B riar Creek. Under the provisions of the act o f 1909 the revenues derived from the r ^ s tr a tio n o f motor vehicles and operators' licenses were set aside for the improvement of the State roads. From Jan, i, 19 10, to Ju n e i, 19 13, the receipts from this source were $2 ,0 31,9 2 1. It is estimated (hat the annual receipts from this source will be over a million dollars a year hereafter. During the period above referred to the length o f routes in’ the two counties under discussion w as 127.24 miles, and the total expended for maintenance u]>on them was Si.lASO* T he work of surveying tJic town­ ship roads was in progress, hut the completed maps had not iKcn placed in the lu n d s of the printer. The commission is gi%cn |>owcr to di%*crt or rebuild any State roads, when ncccs.sary, to purchase and free o f cliargcs all toll roads, re­ build all bridges where necessar)*, take over all roads mnniTig through towns or l)oroughs where it is neccssarv to comnlcte the improve­ ment o f a route, to aid to the extent o f fifty per cent of the cost of the construction o f a road through a borough when petitioned, and to make regulations regarding the laying o f railroad (racksS and nine< or conduits upon and under the said roads.