Iowa Highway Programs, Finances, and Progress, 1951

(a) Iowa has a total of 101,620 miles of rural roads, both primary and secondary. (b) On January 1, 1951, a total of 68,869 miles of these rural roads were surfaced - mostly with gravel and crushed stone. (c) Additional roads are being surfaced at the rate of 2676 miles per year. (d) Iowa's highway program provides for a surfaced road to every reasonably located rural home and a paved or other type of dustless surface on all primary roads. (e) Iowa's highway funds come 26.0 per cent from property taxes, 63.5 per cent from road use taxes, 10.5 per cent from Federal aid. (f) Annual income under present laws, available for highway construction, is approximately For primary roads ----------------- $24,000,000 For secondary roads---------------- $41,967,000 (g) Iowa's highway improvements are being paid for as built. No new bonds are being issued. (h) Unobligated available farm to market road funds are rapidly being placed under contract. (i) The letting of highway contracts is increasing rapidly. (j)- Iowa's highway program is estimated to cost $945,000,000 and will require twenty years to build. These are the highlights of Iowa's highway program. The details will follow in succeeding paragraphs.