Planning for County Highways

IN T R O D U C T IO N More than 76,000 miles of roads are under county control in Indiana—a responsibility for county road authorities which almost defies measurement. The magnitude of the task is indicated, however, by two factors: annual expenditures, which in 1958 totaled over $40 million, and employment, which totaled several thousand persons. This responsibility places great problems on the 92 counties sharing the local road authority—problems which are ever on the increase as our population grows and motor travel mileage spirals upward. Because each county has different road needs and different capabilities, local problems vary. But one thing remains constant: the basic necessity of providing a system of roads to meet the demands of modern travel. Solution of the problem lies in the two-pronged approach of deter­ mining the needs of each county’s system and developing a plan of action to satisfy those needs. Alert, capable county road management is a prerequisite. Can counties organize their efforts so that the pressing road needs can be met ? The answer is found in the fact that man$ counties have fashioned methods of management which produce excellent results; those counties were not afraid to discard practices distinguished only by the fact that they were long-established. In those counties which have progressed to sound methods, no doubt exists that present and future road demands will be met. Results of those sound road practices have brought prestige to road officials and have won the confidence of road users; thus local control of local roads is assured. Historically, when counties were organized they were given road responsibility by the state legislatures deliberately and for good reason —to insure local control. Many states enacted a legal framework calling for a county board and specifying the duties of the board and the number of its members. Although provisions vary from state to state, the basic purpose of the law is the same everywhere: to give to the county board the responsibility for representing the people and, in