Methods of road building must differ in different localities. In all soils it is necessary to take the water away from the road by drainage, or take the road away from the water by elevating the roadbed. It is useless to build a road without first providing for a dry roadbed. Standing water and traffic will reduce any soil to a quagmire. The first step toward building a permanent road is a system of permanent drainage.
Tile drainage is apt to prove most satisfactory.
Ordinarily a tile laid along under one gutter with an occasional twenty-foot cross spur will be sufficient. Drainage of this sort is not expensive nor is it hard to lay. The chief difficulty lies in securing a proper outlet. Next to drainage comes grading. Most roads are too wide.