COUNTY GOVERNMENT -- POST REVOLUTION PERIOD
In addition to the Chesapeake Bay and the Patuxent, Potomac, and Wicomico Rivers which almost completely surround St. Mary's County, the county is laces with a network of navigable bays, creeks, and smaller rivers. Yet this network of natural transportation routes did not eliminate the need for a road system, even in colonial times.
"Mattapany Path," the county's first road, was referred to in a 1639 land patent. This "Path" was created to cross the St. Mary's County peninsula from St. Mary's City to the Patuxent River. Mattapany Road still exists, a two mile long east-west road connecting the county's main road arteries, Routes 5 and 235.
In 1674, legislation was enacted "for amending the ways out of Charles County into the City of St. Mary's." The law was passed to correct a dangerous situation growing out of the establishment of a mill at the head of the Wicomico River. Charles and St. Mary's Counties were enjoined to construct a highway "passable for horse and foote over such place of Zechiah swamp within two miles of said mill upward as shall be convenient." That 1674 description fits the present Route 234.
Another early road was one leading from St. Clement's Manor by way of "Wolf Trap" and "Ironstone Hill" to Chaptico. It was called the "Chaptico Indian Path."
As early as 1692, there was a road from Point Lookout to the northern part of St. Mary's County; 1692 records refer to it as the "Patuxent main road." In 1704 legislation was enacted to standardize road construction and identification. The system of notching trees to identify roads resulted in the "Patuxent main road" becoming the "Three notch road."
The portion of the 1704 legislation pertaining to the marking of roads with notches is quoted below:
And that all the roads that lead to any ?errys Court house of and County or to any Church or leading through any County to the part of Annapolis shall be marked on both sides the road with two notches if the road lead to Annapolis the road that leads there at the leaving or the other road shall be marked on the face of the tree in a Smooth place cutt for that purpose with the letters A.A. sett on with a pair of Marking Irons and Couloured and so with two Notches all along the Road and where at any place it leaves any other Road it shall be again distinguished with the mark aforesaid on the Face of the tree with a pair of marking irons and colored as aforesaid… and any road leading to a ffery and dividing from the other publiq roads shall be marked with three notches of equal Distance at the entrance into the same …
In 1704 legislation was enacted which empowered the Justices of the County Court to record annually what the "publick roads" of the county were, to appoint overseers, and to see that the public roads were "hereafter Clear'd and wll Grubbd fitt for traveling twenty foott wide." The road overseers, under penalty of specified fines, were responsible for the cleaning of the roads. Any laborer or master of servants who refused the overseer's summons to send all taxable male servants to work on the public road was subject to a fine also.
The St. Mary's County Courthouse fire in 1831 destroyed the administrative activities of the St. Mary's County Justices pertaining to roads during the 18th century. But one can determine from Dennis Griffith's 1794 Map of Maryland that there were two main roads running the length of St. Mary's County from the Charles County border to Ridge, with the two roads merging into one from Ridge to Point Lookout. Several lateral roads ran between the two main arteries and to the waterfront areas along the county's eastern and western shores.
In 1802 the St. Mary's County Levy Justices divided the Hundreds of the county into road districts and appointed a road overseer for each section of roads. The
St. Mary's County Road Book 1802-1853 contains a detailed description of the county properties -- mills and other landmarks -- as boundary designations for the fifty-eight road divisions. The county road system was apportioned as follows:
Chaptico Hundred -- 6 divisions
Upper St.Clements Hundred -- 3 divisions
Lower St. Clements Hundred -- 5 divisions
Upper Resurrection Hundred -- 5 divisions
Lower Resurrection Hundred -- 6 divisions
Upper New Town Hundred -- 4 divisions
Lower New Town Hundred -- 3 divisions
Parts of Lower Resurrection and Upper New Town Hundred -- 1 division
Parts of Upper Resurrection and Upper New Town Hundred -- 2 division
Upper St. Mary's Hundred -- 3 divisions
Lower St. Mary's Hundred -- 4 divisions
St. George's Hundred -- 3 divisions
Poplar Hill Hundred -- 3 divisions
Harvey Hundred -- 4 divisions
St. Inigoes Hundred -- 2 divisions
St. Michael's Hundred -- 4 divisions
At the 1821 meeting of the Levy Court following the 1820 public road legislation, St. Mary's County was laid off in fourteen road districts.
During the early 1800's public roads in St. Mary's County were created by acts of the legislature. A list of legislation which designated roads to be added to the public road system follows:
Location Laws Chapter
Leonardtown to Newport 1801 89
Land of John Tippett to St. Joseph Church 1801 18
Newport to Chaptico to Charlotte Hall 1811 146
Through J. Holton's land 1832 122
Church near Chaptico to Chaptico Run 1835 208
Wharf near John Holton's to intersect Three Notch Road 1837 284
Leonardtown Road to wharf at Hanover farm at Britton's Bay 1838 98
St. Mary's Church to Yellow Bank 1837 28
Rich Neck Landing to intersect main road leading to Great Mills 1837 258
Jeremiah Alvey farm to Wicomico River 1838 328
Wharf near John Holton to Intersect Three Notch Road 1840 132
From Chaptico through lands of Garner and others 1840 195
Trappe to Canoe Neck Creek 1849 404
Horse Landing to Persimmon - End Bridge 1849 414
The procedure for adding existing roads to the county's public road system during the latter half of the ninteenth century was through application to the County Commissioners. The following notice from the January 7, 1869, issue of the
St. Mary's Beacon is typical of many published during that period:
Read Notice: The undersigned hereby giving notice that thirty days after date, they intend to apply to the County Commissioners of St. Mary's County to open a public road from Jones' wharf on the Patuxent River out to the Three Notched Road through the land of Wm. F. Combs and others.
James Jones, F.D. Hayden,
S.E. Spalding, and others
Although the number of public roads increased steadily, their quality seems to have remained constant. During the mid 19th century, the St. Mary's County Commissioners' instructions to road superintendents were similar in many respects to the 1704 legislation of a century and a half before! The specified width of public roads was still twenty feet.
In addition to keeping all public roads (twenty feet wide) in good traveling condition for carriages, carts, and horsemen, road superintendents were enjoined that roads be kept clear of all obstructions 15 ft. above the surface of the road, to remove all stones, stumps, roots, etc., to cut ditches and drains, to repair all bridges and remove obstructions from under them, and to permit no person to fence in or to otherwise obstruct, alter, or change without permission from the County Commissioners and according to law.
In the employment of labor, the superintendent was instructed in all cases to give preference to taxpayers. Payment was made through a system of certificates issued by the superintendent which noted time, pay, etc. The road supervisor's accounts, together with a report on the general condition of roads and bridges in his district, were submitted to the Clerk of the County Commissioners annually on or about October 1. The "allowance" paid road supervisors in each of St. Mary's County's then (1853) five election districts varied: 1st District - $60; 2nd District - $120; 3rd District - $150; 4th District - $125; and 5th District - $100. The County Commissioners set the wage scale to be paid to road workers. A maximum wage of 75c per day was paid if the worker furnished his own tools; a $1.00 per day maximum was paid for a cart team; a $1.00 per day maximum for a plough and team. Supervisors were authorized to take brush and timber for road repair from the most convenient place "having due regard for the best interests of owners of the land allowing said owner a fair value." When necesssary expenditures for repairing a bridge or cutting a ditch exceeded $10, the supervisor was to consult the County Commissioners in regard to same. Expenditures for St. Mary's County roads during the year ending in October, 1853 had amounted to $225 in the 1st District, $450 in the 2nd District, $600 in the 3rd District, $450 in the 4th District, and $325 in the 5th District.
At this point, citizens of each community were still closely involved in the road work. In May of 1854, the County Commissioners appointed William Coad, Thomas Loker, and Thomas Hebb to contract for a bridge over the head of the St. Mary's River "at or near Great Mills." A notation five years and three months later on August 9, 1859, ordering that Milburn and Davis be paid the "balance due for construction of bridge over St. Mary's River at Great Mills" indicates at what a leisurely pace road work was completed.
If a citizen wanted a public road moved and could offer an acceptable alternate route, he appealed to the County Commissioners who ruled on the change. In 1854 a new road "beginning at John H. Milburn's and running to Piney Point Pavilion" was adopted as the public road in lieu of the old road formerly in use. Milburn and Nuthall were granted permission to "close the Old Road."
In 1868 an Act "… to provide a road system for St. Mary's County" was enacted. Section 96 of this law required that every male resident of St. Mary's County above the age of 21 be liable for service upon the public roads within his road district. His required time was not to exceed two days per year and he could elect to work in person, to secure a substitute in his stead, or be liable for wages paid to procure labor in his place. The law also provided that a salaried County Superintendent of Roads be appointed by the County Commissioners for a three-year term. The county was to be divided into road districts with supervisors for each district under the authority of the County Superintendent.
In 1876, Chapter 238, "An Act to provide for the repairs of the Public Roads in St. Mary's County," went a step farther in establishing a system of road upkeep by an ever-increasing number of road employees. This act instructed the County Commissioners to divide the roads in each election district into sections measuring from four to six miles, to designate each section with an identifying number, and to describe each section in a county road book. In April of every-other year, the sections of road were to be advertised, and the upkeep of that section was awarded to the lowest bidder. Contractors were allowed to take repair materials (earth, wood, and stone) within fifteen feet of the center of the road, and to straighten all roads where it could be done with the consent of adjoining land owners. The County Commissioners were to impose a levy on all assessable county property to pay for the public roads.
Chapter 499 of an 1878 law set the maximum county levy for road repair at $5,000 per year. It also stipulated that district road commissioners' salaries were not to exceed $1.50 per day.
The County Commissioners allotted $3,500 for repairs to public roads in 1878, apportioned to each election district as follows:
1st District -- $425 5th District -- $425
2nd District -- $387 6th District -- $450
3rd District -- $550 7th District -- $400
4th District -- $475 8th District -- $387.50
The County Commissioners also set a pay scale for public road laborers:
Men hands per day -- $1 Horse and plow -- $1
Boy from 15 to 18 -- 75c Two horses and plow -- $1.50
Cart and oxen, 1 yoke -- $1 Shells -- $1.50 per bushel
Cart and oxen, 2 yoke -- $1.50
With each successive legislative act shifting increased responsibility onto the shoulders of paid employees, citizens' complaints seemed to increase. The
St. Mary's Beacon on February 24, 1870, contained a complaint about the poor conditions of the roads and the unfair distribution of taxpayers' funds. The February 2, 1882, issue contained the news that the "condition of travel in our county is as bad as bad can be…"
A more vivid description of county roads was contained in a letter to the editor published in the November 14, 1889, edition:
… In your last issue our new friend C.H. Lucas who had recently purchased a home in our
county advertised for a flat-bottom boat to survey the public road from his house to Mr. John Cryer's store …
The letter continued, bemoaning the excessive number of road supervisors and labeling the $1.50 per day which those supervisors were paid "highway robbery."
The county citizens were often less than cooperative in their treatment of roads. In 1879 the County Commissioners ordered that a notice be inserted in the
St. Mary's Beacon warning against throwing weeks, briars, etc. in the public road. On November 9, 1896 the Beacon called county farmers' attention to the order passed by the County Commissioners requiring that all fences, gates, and obstructions be removed from the public roads. This reminder was published in November, eight months after the March 11th order had been passed. Obviously, many farmers were making little effort to indicate that they would meet the one year limit allowed for the removal. In addition to the frequent complaints from citizens aired in the county paper, the report of the March, 1903, Grand Jury noted that the "roads in all parts of the county are in very bad condition."
The legislators responded by passing still more laws. A State Geological and Economic Survey had been legislated in 1896, and in 1904 it was ordered that the County Commissioners be advised as to the most suitable routes and materials to be used for county roads -- information gained from the geological survey. A 1902 (Chapter 354) law stipulated that a road inspector position must be a physician resident of the district he was to serve. If any district laced a practicing physician in residence, then a property owner of that district whose occupation "leads him to travel much of the roads of the district" was appointed. In 1904 a law providing for the purchase of five mules for each of the three commissioner district to operate the county road machines was passed. In 1905 a State Aid Road Fund was made available to the counties. The $200,000 in state funds was to be allotted to each county according to its road mileage; St. Mary's County had 602 miles of public roads and its share of the state appropriation amounted to $7,789.85. Then in 1908 the State Roads Commission was created. The Commission consisted of three Maryland male citizens and two men from the Maryland Geological Survey; they were appointed by the Governor who also served as an ex-officio member.
At about this 1908 period, a new word appears in the county citizens' vocabulary -- "State" Road. By the summer of 1908, the route of the proposed state road through St. Mary's County had been tentatively located by the State Roads Commission. It was to "begin at the Charles County line near Joseph A. Smoot's farm, thence to New Market, thence to Mechanicsville, to Morganza, Loveville, Leonardtown, thence by the Gravel Run road to Indian Bridge to Great Mills, to Park Hall, to St. Mary's City, to St. Inigoes, to Ridge, to Scotland, to Point Lookout." The selected route did not please all the county citizens, and a delegation of countians went to Baltimore to meet with the State Roads Commission. Their argument that the Clements, Chaptico, Budd's Creek route be chosen instead of the Mechanicsville one was unsuccessful.
The contract for the construction of the first section of St. Mary's County's state road, which extended from Mechanicsville to Helen, was awarded in August, 1909, to the McCormick Company of Philadelphia for their bid of $10,000 per mile. Work began immediately. On August 17, 1909, twenty-five workers were employed, and one hundred additional Italian road builders went to work the following day. Work began near C.P. Herbert's new (1909) dwelling in Mechanicsville. Mechanicsville had the honor of having the county's first state road, but that distinction cost them one of the village's landmarks; a huge oak tree, located in the line of the state road, was cut down.
The new state road was macadam, another new work in the countians' vocabulary. It consisted of layers of tar and stone packed onto the surface of a gravel bed which was rounded in the middle and drained to each side. Mr. Ray Burroughs, a distinguished citizen in the Mechanicsville area, (in a 1975 interview) recalled the stone chips being hauled by train to Mechanicsville and being spread by large steam-powered road machines which had a trap door=like bed to facilitate spreading. The innovative machinery, large work force, and revolutionary road-building materials were quite a change from the former years when chuck holes and washouts were repaired with layers of pine brush covered with shovelfuls of gravel!
In January of 1910, less than six months after construction had been started, McCormick and Company went bankrupt. However, work was continued in March of that same year when Filbert Paving and Construction Company of Philadelphia resumed work on the Mechanicsville-Helen Road where McCormick had left off. By June of 1911, that portion of the new state road was finished.
Construction of the portion of the state road between Helen and Leonardtown wad begun in the summer of 1910. In the September 15, 1910
Beacon, the road superintendent advertised for workers on the state road, offering to pay 15c per hour wages.
Stone materials for construction of the Helen to Leonardtown portion of the state road were brought by barge from Philadelphia to the Leonardtown Wharf. This method created problems for Leonardtown residents. The June 16, 1910, issue of the St. Mary's Beacon reported that nearly every day Capt. A.A. Lawrence "superintends the filling of some hole the traction engines and cars have cut in the street." The October 6, 1910, Beacon reported that the dust in Leonardtown kicked up by the road machines was "the consistency of flour." On December 1, 1910, it was reported that it would take six more working days to haul stone for the Leonardtown end of the state road and about a month's more work to finish the contract. But on December 15, 1910, it was announced that the road engines had been laid up for the winter and that "persons with fractious horses may now come to town without dreading to meet a road engine."
Work on the state road resumed in the spring of 1911 and by June of that year was nearing completion.
With the completion of the state road to Leonardtown, automobile-borne travelers began visiting the county. The May 25,1911, Beacon reported that the Automibile Club from Washington, D.C. had run to Leonardtown over "good dirt and macadam highways." The June 1, 1911, issue reported the arrival of ten automobiles to Leonardtown where the tourists dined at Hotel St. Mary's.
Several contians soon acquired new automobiles also. The first automobile owned by a St. Mary's Countian is purported to have been owned by the Holmes family. The June 1, 1911, Beacon reported the purchase of an I.H.C. automobile by Dr. L.B. Johnson who had also recently finished "his handsome new residence on his Morganza farm."
The good roads and the growing use of automobile transportation accounted for the establishment of new county businesses. The February 11, 1915, Beacon reported that the J.F. Greenwell Implement Company had secured the exclusive agency for Charles and St. Mary's Counties for Chevrolet and Monroe automobiles; the cars were to be on display at the company's building during March Court.
The January 1, 1914, Beacon advertised C.P. Herbert and Co., Mechanicsville, Maryland, Agents for Maxwell automobiles. They offered a complete line of automobiles.
25 horsepower Roadster $725
25 horsepower 5 passenger touring car $750
35 horsepower 5 passenger touring car $1,085
25 horsepower 5 passenger touring car with lights and starter $1.225
50 horsepower 7 passenger touring car, electric lights and starter $1,975
(right and left hand drive) optional $1,975
In the January 28, 1915, paper, Coad and McKay, proprietors at the Leonardtown Auto and Accessorie Co., were advertising the "New 1915 Maxwell" for $695, electric starter and lights $55 extra.
Note: Maxwell- Chalmers reorganized into Maxwell Motor Corporation in 1922, which
became Chrysler Corporation in 1925. reh
Countians discovered that proximity to the new state road had some disadvantages, in November of 1911, Leonardtown had its first automobile accident -- Max L. Millison's dog was killed by "a machine" passing out of town. And there was a problem with speeders. In 1914 State Senator Chesley introduced a bill to regulate the speed of automobiles and motorcycles. The speed limit was set at 25 m.p.h. on the open highway, at 12 m.p.h. in sections "with two or more houses in sight of one another," and 6 m.p.h. in towns or incorporated villages. The law prohibited the use of flags, banners, or streamers on tops or sides of vehicles. This however did not apply to small flags carried as signals by "patrolmen of State roads." On May 6, 1915 the
Beacon reported that Deputy Auto Commissioner Thomas H. Wildman had made four arrests, two for improper licensing and two for speeding through Charlotte Hall.
While the residents of the state road in the northern portion of St. Mary's County were coping with these new problems, the citizens in the area south of Leonardtown and to the east and west of the new state road were still trying to live with the lack of passable roads. In 1911 County Road Engineer Leo M. Wathen decided against investing in the new road machine -- the split log road drag. This drag, highly praised by advocates in other parts of the country, was suitable only for graded roads, and in 1911 only about one-fourth of St. Mary's County 's roads were graded. Instead, Mr. Wathen was getting graders that could be worked with three large or four small horses.
In 1914 portions of the state road south of Leonardtown were built. Two contracts were let in january, 1914; the Leonardtown to Chingville section for a bid of $22,000, and the Chingville to Great Mills section for $13,310. In February, 1914, it was reported that twenty-five colored laborers, together with teams and eequipment, were actively engaged in construction of the road from Leonardtown to Chingville. During the same period, the State Roads Commission awarded the contract for the construction of the road from Great Mills to St. Mary's City to William B. McDonald Construction Company of Mt. Vernon, N.Y.
The February 11, 1915 Beacon reported the awarding of the contract for construction of the loose gravel of the state road from Ridge to Point Lookout to Fred Taylor of Soilers, Maryland for his bid of $8,923.66. In 1918 Governor Harrington signed House Bill 311 authorizing the State Roads Commission to extend the concrete road to Point Lookout.
In 1914 Senate Bill 200 was introduced; it would have provided $100,000 for the construction of lateral roads in St. Mary's County. The bill specified the roads and how much should be allotted each:
$15,000 allotted to the road beginning at the state road at Harpers and leading toward Hollywood
$25,000 for the road leading from the state road at Nelson's toward Milestown by way of Clements
$8,000 for the road from Helen to Chaptico
$5,000 beginning at State Road near Oaks toward The Plains
$15,000 from State Road near West's place toward Piney Point by way of Valley Lee
$16,000 from State Road near Great Mills toward Millstone Landing by way of Jarboesville
$6,000 road from Ridge to Miller's Wharf
$10,000 from Hollywood to Jarboesville
Unfortunately, this bill was not passed.
In 1915 a delegation "composed of some of the county's largest taxpayers" appeared before the County Commissioners to ask that a $10,000 levy be placed upon taxable property in 1916, the fund to be used to improve county roads. On February 21, 1918, the
Beacon reported that roads were impassable; J. Allen Coad, scheduled to speak at the Farmers Convention, was unable to reach Leonardtown from Porto Bello. In September of 1919, it was reported that the people of Compton were unable to hold a road meeting because the roads were in such bad condition that people could not get to the schoolhouse for the meeting! However, there was some hope of improvement for some lateral roads. In Laws of 1918, Chapter 411, the road from Great Mills to Cedar Point was approved. It was a U.S. Mail Route and a 1914 act (Chapter 808) legislating the construction of rural post roads was the basis of its approval. By August of 1919, the state road to Cedar Point had been surveyed and actual work was promised soon.
A second attempt to provide lateral roads for St. Mary's County failed in 1920. In that year five laws were vetoed which would have created the following routes:
(Chapter 459) Leonardtown to Patuxent River between Cashner's Wharf and Forrest Landing
(Chapter 577) Leonardtown to Sotterley by way of Hollywood and Uniontown
(Chapter 628) Palmers to existing state road between Mechanicsville and
Leonardtown via Milestown
(Chapter 432) From state road between Leonardtown and Great Mills to Piney Point
However, one 1920 (Chapter 358) law which was enacted authorized the County Commissioners to issue bonds for the amount of $200,000 for the construction and repair of public roads and bridges. The law allowed the issuance of $50,000 in road bonds per year.
On February 24, 1921, county road bonds amounting to $50,000, authorized by the 1920 legislation were offered for sale at the Courthouse door to the highest bidder. Much of the meetings of the County Commissioners during the teen years and early 20's of this century concerned road accounts, and eventually the lateral roads did get built.
As noted, during the first decade of the twentieth century, the advent of a road system added "state road" and "macadam" to countians' vocabularies. During the second decade of this century, there were road-connected additions to the St. Mary's County landscape -- speed signs. In 1915 Mechanicsville had signs erected warning motorists of the 12 mile-per-hour limit through that area. In 1916 legislation was enacted authorizing the County Commissioners to erect "road sign boards which shall be a hand pointing toward one town or place … together with the names of places and number of miles apart … in large enough type to be seen by travelers at a distance not less than 50 yards." This legislation was repealed in 1941, but countians cannot remember the existence of such signs. The procedure for finding one's destination was to stop and ask directions. This verbal, often inaccurate, and confusing system continued for decades.The establishment of a road system also had an effect upon the mode of transportation linking the county with the outside world. Starting on July 1, 1914, the Semmes Motor Line started operating busses between Leonardtown and Washington. Two trips daily, including Sunday, were scheduled; fare one way was $3 and a round trip ticket cost $4.50. In 1920 the Tidewater Lines, offering passenger, express, and freight service between Leonardtown and Washington, was incorporated. The main terminal and general office of this company was located in Washington, but St. Mary's Countians invested in the stock. Tidewater Lines scheduled three busses daily. In 1919 Thomas Al Ridgell started a bus service between Scotland and Leonardtown; it was called the Scotland Motor Line and made two trips per day. The fare was $1 either way.
The 1930's marked the period when some of the roads on the extremities of the road network became part of the public road system. For example, in 1935 the Minutes of the County Commissioners record the reading of a letter from the State Roads Commission accepting as a part of the St. Mary's County Road System the following roads:
ELECTION
ROAD DISTRICT MILEAGE
St. James Chapel Road 1 0.6
Fresh Pond Neck Road 1 1.37
Colbrums Wharf Road 7 1.1
Abell's School to Wm. T. Morris' Store 7 0.6
Joe Bailey's Store to River Springs Post Office 7 1.0
Wynne Post Office Road 1 0.3
Britton's Beach Road 3 1.0
St. Clement's Shore Road 3 1.0
Bushwood Cit Road 7 1.0
White Point Subdivision 3 0.42
But through the 30's and into the 1940's, many of the county's secondary roads remained gravel-surfaced, wash-board-rough, and dusty.
Following the establishment of the Naval Air Test Center in 1941, the Three Notch Road (Routh 235) became the principal north-south road of St. Mary's County. The decades since have seen it widened, straightened, resurfaced, and dualized. The rebuilding of Route 246, the other county road offering access to the Naval Air Station, was begun in 1954.
For the most part, county road building since 1940 has consisted of improvement to existing roads, whether it was to the 17th century Three Notch Road or the early 20th century lateral roads. A later addition to the county road system was the lower Patuxent River Bridge, named Governor Thomas Johnson Bridge, which was opened in January 1978 to provide a link between St. Mary's and Calvert Counties. This modern concrete structure offers a striking contrast to the concrete bridge over the headwaters of Breton Bay which replaced a covered wooden bridge built by Vincent Camalier in the 1840's, or even to the bridge to St. George's Island, built in 1955 to replace the wooden structure destroyed by Hurricane Hazel (October 15, 1954). St. Mary's County's modern road system consisting of 199.7 miles of state roads and 530 miles (1976 figures) of county roads maintained by the SHA (State Highway Administration), formerly the State Roads Commission, offers a sharp contrast to the often-times impassable roads of the early twentieth centure.