streets,[N 1] as well as sewers, water supplies, street lights, schools, parks and other municipal services far beyond the reach of the rural citizens.
Even the streets of some towns were nearly as bad as the rural roads after a heavy rain.
Most city street improvements were financed by bond issues which were amortized out of general tax revenues. The cities for the most part avoided “pay-as-you-go” financing and did most of their original construction by contract.
Broken and abandoned carriages were the eyesore of the day.
Practically all American cities enjoyed the right, conferred upon them by the State legislatures, to assess the cost of street improvements to the benefited property. This power greatly enlarged the financial resources available to the cities for improvements.[N 2]
City dwellers were exempt from the obligation to perform statute labor. Instead of relying on the obsolete and wasteful statute labor system, cities accomplished their street maintenance with paid labor under the supervision of civil engineers or, at the least, persons with some knowledge of roadbuilding, and paid for it out of general tax revenues.
Beginning of the Good Roads Movement
The great disparity between the cities and the rural areas in the quality of life was evident to everyone, but few city dwellers thought they had any obligation to do anything about it. They had taxed themselves to build their roads and streets, let the farmers do likewise, was the prevailing sentiment in the cities. Nevertheless, the impetus for road reform came from the cities and primarily from civic leaders who appreciated the economic burdens laid on city dwellers and farmers alike by the bad roads. These leaders realized and accepted the cold hard facts that good roads were impossible without adequate funds and that these could be obtained only by the taxation of urban, as well as rural, property.
In 1879 the General Assembly of North Carolina passed the “Mecklenburg Road Law” permitting that county to levy a road tax on all property in the county, including that in Charlotte, the principal city. The act was repealed the following year, but was re-enacted in 1885, and eventually most of the counties of the State elected to operate their roads under this law. By 1902 Mecklenburg was acknowledged to have the best roads in North Carolina, and its citizens were cheerfully paying the highest road taxes in the State: 35 cents per $100 property valuation, plus $1.05 on the poll.[3]
The first State road convention was held in Iowa City, Iowa, in 1883, primarily to try to bring about some improvement in the deplorable condition of the rural roads. This convention recommended payment of road taxes in cash instead of labor, consolidation of road districts, letting road construction to responsible contractors, and, most importantly, authorizing county boards to levy a property tax to create a road fund. These recommendations were adopted by the Iowa Legislature in an act passed in 1884, but the reforms were made optional with the counties rather than mandatory.[4]
- ↑ In 1907, the first year for which reliable figures are available, there were 47,000 miles of roads and. streets in cities of 30,000 or more population, of which 20,646 were improved with some kind of surface better than dirt. These included 7,675 miles of heavy-duty pavement; 4,161 miles with asphalt surfaces; 6,274 miles of macadam; and 2,536 miles of gravel.[1]
- ↑ The special assessment is an institution of American origin, first used in New York City in colonial times to finance streets and sewers. By 1893 all States and Territories had laws authorizing municipal corporations to assess the cost of physical improvements against benefited properties. Street railway companies were customarily assessed with the cost of paving between their tracks, and for a certain distance on each side. The right to make special assessments was rarely conferred on counties and townships, but in some States special road improvement districts were created by the legislature and given the power of assessment.[2]
Other States adopted “good road laws” similar to North Carolina’s and Iowa’s, but the good roads move-
- ↑ Office of Federal Coordinator of U.S. Transportation, Public Aids to Transportation, Public Aids to Motor Vehicle Transportation, Vol. IV (GPO, Washington, D.C., 1940) p. 6.
- ↑ L. Van Ornum, Theory and Practice of Special Assessments, Transactions, Vol. 38 (American Society of Civil Engineers, New York, 1897) pp. 336–361.
- ↑ J. Holmes, Roadbuilding in North Carolina, Proceedings of the North Carolina Good Roads Convention, Bulletin No. 24 (Bureau of Public Roads, Washington, D.C., 1903) pp. 66, 67.
- ↑ H. Trumbower, Roads, Encyclopedia of the Social Sciences, Vol. 13 (MacMillan, New York, 1948) pp. 406, 407.
