Total...... 1,389,515 3,071,465 3,708,000 517,163 53,491,651 27,768,219 53,315,321 14 2,670,361 14 17,974,276 49,880,000 186,461,689 1 Data for fiscal year. Expenditure of special improvement districts under supervision of state highway department. No information obtainable as to distribution of $1,279,774 reported as expended for other work than construction. 4 Does not include San Francisco County. Included under roads. 6 Does not grant money aid but commission has supervisory powers over all road and bridge work in state. 7 Data approximate. 8 State highway department established March, 1916. Special appropriation for road adjoining State University farm. 10 Includes extraordinary repairs and reconstruction made necessary by heavy trucking. 11 Includes $1,877,055 state aid to towns. 12 One-fourth mill state road tax authorized 1915, but did not become available until 1916. 13 Reimbursements to state treasury for state-aid roads. 14 Partial. 000, of which $5,000,000 is made | tration and overhead expenses, and available for the fiscal year 1917, and the remainder is apportioned to the a sum increasing annually by $5,000,- several states on the basis of popula000 for each of the following years tion, area, and mileage of rural delivuntil 1921, when $25,000,000 will be ery routes and star routes, each havavailable. Three per cent. of the ap- ing a weight of one-third. The state propriation is available for adminis-must pay at least one-half of the cost 1 Only engineering and supervision furnished by state. 2 Approximate. Includes about 4,500 miles of grading. 240 miles additional under construction. No data. Of this, 361 miles surfaced; remainder, turnpike and grading. Includes 648 miles of grading. able to both parties. The Federal funds apportioned to each state under the Federal-Aid Road Act for the fiscal year 1917, and the approximate total apportionment to each state for the entire five-year period are shown in the table on page 284. of all the roads improved from Fed-tory, or county, upon a basis equiteral aid, and in addition, it, or its civil subdivisions, according to its laws, must maintain these roads after they are constructed. Under the same Act $1,000,000 a year for ten years is appropriated for the construction and maintenance of roads and trails in, or partly within, the national forests, Two states, Mississippi and Georin coöperation with the state, terri-gia, established state highway depart ments during the year. The powers of | each, however, are limited almost entirely to duties of an advisory and educational nature. Construction. More funds have been available for road building, and especially maintenance, than ever before, but it is doubtful if the amount of new construction completed in 1916 will equal that of 1915, for two reasons: first, the scarcity and high cost of labor and materials, and, second, the large amount of repair and renewal made necessary by floods in various localities. The cost of materials and labor has in many sections in creased from 25 to 50 per cent. above the average of the two preceding years Mileage, Appropriations and Expenditures. The accompanying tables adapted from the U. S. Department of Agriculture Circular No. 63, prepared by the Division of Road Economics, Office of Public Roads and Rural Engineering, give the state and local expenditures, mileage, etc., more fully than can be expressed in any other form. The value of the convict labor and statute labor, which is estimated at a grand total of $15,000,000 for the entire United States, is not included in these tables. WATERWAYS AND HARBORS T. W. VAN METRE Appropriations.-For the first time | work for the improvement of the ter in three years Congress passed a Rivers and Harbors Appropriation Act containing appropriations for specific projects of improvement, the Appropriation Acts of 1914 and 1915 having provided for lump sums to be distributed among various works of improvement according to the wishes of the Army engineers. The Act approved July 27, 1916, carried a total appropriation of $40,598,135, which, with an appropriation of $1,482,800 carried in the Sundry Civil Appropriation Act approved July 1, made the entire river and harbor appropriations for the year $42,080,935. The total appropriations for river and harbor improvement since the establishment of the Government, including permanent annual appropriations, amount to $898,543,252.47. During the fiscal year ending June 30, 1916, the Federal Government expended $34,846,496.10 on river and harbor improvement work. There has been a great deal of agitation for, but no progress towards, a modification of the present methods of appropriating government funds for waterway improvement. Boston. The chief work now being done by the Federal Government at Boston is that of deepening the Weymouth Fore River. The Rivers and Harbors Act carried an appropriation of $200,000 for the continuation of this work and for the removal of the shoal south of the west end of Peddocks Island. The directors of the Port of Boston are carrying on the minal facilities of the port according to the plan described in the YEAR Book for 1915 (p. 293). Providence. The state of Rhode Island has constructed at Providence a new $2,000,000 pier which has brought an addition to the trans-Atlantic service of the port. The 30-ft. channel extending from deep water in Narragansett Bay to Field's Point, a distance of nine miles, was completed in May. New London.-The large state pier at New London, Conn., has been completed, giving this port one of the best equipped and largest piers in New England. New York.-The Federal Government is carrying forward the exten. sive work of improvement under way in all the waterways around New York Harbor. The Hudson River channel adjacent to the New Jersey shore is being deepened, the remaining dangerous shoals are being removed from the East River, the Harlem and Bronx Rivers are being dredged to a greater depth, and the channels to various parts of the port along Long Island, the Bay Ridge and Red Hook Channels, are being deepened and widened. important projects for the improvement of the terminal facilities of the port of New York is that having to do with the reconstruction and elevation of the line of the New York Central Railroad on the west side of Manhattan Island. Several plans for One of the most this undertaking are being considered, | though no definite scheme has been adopted. The New Jersey cities adjacent to the waters of New York Harbor are steadily improving their facilities for water-borne traffic. The Newark improvement, a description of which was given in the YEAR BOOK for 1915 (p. 294), is well on the way to completion. The Kill Van Kull, which affords a passage from Newark Bay to Upper New York Bay, has a depth of 30 ft., and Staten Island Sound (Arthur Kill), which gives an outlet from Newark Bay to Raritan Bay and Lower New York Bay, is being dredged and deepened. The Rivers and Harbors Act contained an appropriation of $500,000 for the continuation of this work. Philadelphia.-The 35-ft. channel of the Delaware River is virtually completed as far as Reedy Island, just below Newcastle, Del. When finished the channel will extend from Philadelphia to Bombay Hook, where Delaware Bay commences. The entire project of improvement of the channel is about 40 per cent. completed. The Rivers and Harbors Act sets aside $2,165,000 for the continuation of the work and authorizes the Secretary of War to enter into contracts for work necessary further to prosecute the project to the extent of $600,000, to be paid for out of subsequent appropriations. By popular vote the city of Philadelphia was authorized on May 16 to borrow $67,100,000, to be used for public improvements of various kinds. The city of Bayonne, in conjunction Of this sum $13,000,000 is to be spent with private interests, is planning the on port improvement. New piers are construction of a great $10,000,000 to be constructed at once near Kenilmarine terminal to be located just worth and Cherry Streets, just opposouth of the Greenville yards of the site the active business center of the Pennsylvania Railroad. If the pro- city; the Schuylkill River is to be posed plan is carried out, some 250 dredged and bulkheaded, and several acres of low land will be reclaimed, more large public piers constructed. on which will be constructed bulk- The superstructure of the recently heads, platforms, pier sheds, ware- built pier at McKean Street is virtuhouses, factories, cold-storage plants, ally completed, and work is well unelevators, coaling plants, power house, der way on the group of Moyamensing railroad tracks, and all the equipment piers along the South Philadelphia of the modern ocean terminal. section of the Delaware waterfront. project resembles in many features New terminal facilities are being the great Bush Terminal in Brooklyn, provided at other ports of the Delaand, if completed, will add greatly to ware. The city of Trenton is improvthe facilities for handling the growing its waterfront, private corporaing commerce of New York Harbor. The The New Jersey cities are attempting to add to their commercial advantages by asking the Interstate Commerce Commission to require the railroads to give lower freight rates to the cities on the New Jersey shore than are given to New York City. For many years the charges to all the cities surrounding New York Harbor have been the same, the railroads having adopted the custom of absorbing the lighterage charges on the traffic transferred from various rail terminals to the water terminals on Manhattan Island and in Brooklyn. This absorption of lighterage charges the New Jersey cities assert to be a discrimination against them, and they are seeking a lower rate than that given to New York. tions are constructing new piers and building new bulkheads at Chester, and the Baldwin Locomotive Works is straightening and widening the channel of the Crum River preparatory to installing terminal facilities for water transportation. The gov ernment iron pier at Lewes is being improved, and will be open to public use. South Atlantic Ports.-The 28-ft. channel from Charleston Harbor to the sea is almost completed. The city of Charleston has done very little toward the improvement of the waterfront, practically all of the wharf and pier facilities being under the control of private dock companies and railroads. The Rivers and Harbors Act carries an appropriation of $545,000 for the maintenance and completion of the ished. The lock is completed and in improvement of the harbor of Savan- operation, and Seattle is now providnah. This city too has done little ined with both a salt-water and a freshthe way of providing municipal terminals for its shipping. water harbor for ocean vessels. River Improvement.-The Federal Saint Johns River, Florida, is be- Government is continuing the iming dredged to a depth of 30 ft. to ac- provement of the Hudson River, in orcommodate the commerce of Jackson- der to make it available to the fullville, situated 27.5 miles from its est extent for the traffic which is exmouth. Jacksonville in recent years pected to use the new New York State has done a great deal toward the im- Barge Canal. The dam and lock at provement of its port. With the pro- Troy have been finished and were ceeds of a bond issue of $1,500,000 | opened to navigation on May 8. This voted in 1913 the city has purchased work, built at the expense of the Feda tract of land along the river, having eral Government at a cost of $1,500,a frontage of 4,200 ft. and a depth of 000, replaces the old state dam and 700 ft., where new piers have been lock constructed by New York State. erected together with warehouses and The lock affords access to the new railway facilities. Barge Canal. Troy has been authorThe harbor of refuge at Cape Look-ized to create a harbor and dock comout, North Carolina, is about onethird completed. Gulf Ports. The maintenance of deep water in the passes of the Mississippi River continues to be an expensive task, the Government appropriating in 1916 the sum of $1,000,000 for that purpose and for the continuation of the dredging. The great sea wall of Galveston, which protects the city from the waters of the Gulf of Mexico, is to be extended at the joint expense of the Federal Government and the city. The maintenance of the harbor channel and the channel to Texas City demand the expenditure of almost a half-million dollars each year. Pacific Ports.-No city in the country has made more substantial progress in port improvement in recent years than Los Angeles. When the small harbor towns of San Pedro and Wilmington were annexed by Los Angeles in 1909, it was agreed that the city should expend $10,000,000 on harbor development. More than half of this sum has been spent. Part of the money has gone for dredging work in the outer and the inner harbor, part has been used for the reclamation of low land, and part has been spent for the construction of piers, several of which, with all modern equipment, have been completed and put in service. The city has also established a fish wharf, upon which space has been rented to fish-canning companies. The canal connecting Puget Sound with Lake Washington is almost fin mission, which will be empowered to purchase land and construct terminal facilities to enable Troy to take advantage of the commercial opportunities furnished by the canal and the Hudson River improvements. The Ohio River improvement is probably the most important work of river improvement, from a commercial standpoint, now being carried on by the Federal Government. In 1910 Congress adopted a plan for work which, when finished, will give the Ohio River a minimum depth of nine feet from Pittsburgh to the mouth of the river. Of the 53 locks and dams for which the plan provides, 16 were completed and in operation on July 1, 18 more were in the process of construction, while 19 were yet to be commenced. It is not known when the entire work, which it is estimated will cost $63,000,000, will be finished. When the project was adopted it was intended that it should be completed within a period of 10 years, but appropriations have not been made rapidly enough to insure completion within that time. The Rivers and Harbors Act of 1916 provides $5,509,500 for the continuation and maintenance of the work. Nearly $8,000,000 was appropriated in 1916 for the continuation of the improvement work on the Mississippi River, and large sums were provided also for the Trinity, Brazos, Cumberland and Tennessee Rivers. The construction of the jetties at the mouth of the Columbia River is |