Herald and news. [volume] (West Randolph, Vt.) 1878-1943, 1890-10-16
-caDAmazgo ROADS.
Eow Taey Are Laid a.ad why They Are
Economical.


Economical.
Country roadmaking has become a
science. and the matter Of a general re-
form Of the roads on uniform system
bids fair TO become political question
In some states and many minor locah-
ties. The most surprising fact 50 far
developed in the recently revived discus
sion is that very few people certainly
not more than one in thousand) whose
business involves much hauling have
any idea Of the enormous loss caused by
bad roads Sir John Macneill by many
careful experiments showed that the
units of force needed to move a certain
weight in a wagon varied as follows;
On a very smooth hard surface. ............... 2
On dry and clean rough stone road .......... 5
On same, very dusty .....,....................
On same wet and muddy ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS. 10
On a wet and muddy road. SO
That is. he estimates that bad roads
cost about 500 per cent. of waste labor!
John Loudon Macadam Travelled about
10000 miles to inspect and study the
roads OF Great Britain, and in 1916 in
PRODUCED his method, which gained favor
SO rapidly that Of the $4,000 miles of
public roads in the kingdom Is, 900 were
macadamized within dozen years. His
system. however, was thought by some
to be defective in one PARTICULAR very
important one in England-the method
of preparing the foundation. Mr.. Thomas
Telford added the system of laying a
rock foundation and giving the road a
tolerably high central crown, so that
system should properly be called the
Telford- Macadam method. The inn
proved or Telford- Macadam method is
as follows:
The grade should have rise of at
least che inch in thirty toward the CEN
ter. and the bitches be not less than foot
deep. measuring from a cross section
that is the base of the constructed road.
On this base (which is the natural earth
and should first be hard rolled) is laid a
bed of stone, eight inches deep in the
center and diminishing to six inches at
the sides: the stones should not be more
than eight inches or less than six inches
wide: the smaller ones should be inserted
by hand. so as to wedge the whole mass
very tightly together. The stone surface
is then rammed and pounded till it is
fairly smooth.
On this foundation course comes layer
of stones, varying from three inches (the
largesD to one inch (the smallest). These
need not necessarily be machine broken, |
but may be refuse from the screened
stone or ral1ings. This layer should be
four inches deep, and should be free from
dirt and well rammed or rolled down. |
The surface layer of broken stone should 1
be three inches deep, and should be select
ed with considerable care. Every stonein
1t should have passed through two-inch
ring before it is laid, and stones which |
are wedge shaped, or otherwise do not
approach uniformity of measurement
should have no place After this layer
has been carefully prepared it is super
fcially rolled. Screened gravel or sand
Is then thrown on, and thorough rolling
completes the process.
The cost would be about three times
that of the common gravel road, and,
though some latitude is allowed in the
thickness of the upper layers. yet it is
laid down that each should be at least
three inches thick, except the sand.
The entire depth therefore of the rock,
pebble and gravel structure would be
about fifteen inches. Various modifca-
tions of the system are therefore pro.
posed because of desire to economize
The arguments advanced in England
for the Telford- Macadam system are
very forcible, one of the strongest being
the drainage secured by setting the long
est stones in such a way as to leave the
structure quite porous below and yet
very firm. In the United States, how
ever, more than one engineer declares
that ''if water goes through the roadbed
it breaks up at times anyhow; the sub.
stratum of rock does not prevent it,
Before the days of Gelford and Macadam
Great Britain had the same wretched
system that still prevails in many parts
of the United States, a system which re
quires the people of many thinly in
habited and poor farming region to keer
up theroad between two populous towns.
Requires" them to do it is only the
legal expression, for they VIGOROUSLY dc
not do tia fact attested by ten thou
sand popular jokes ON western roads.
The so called tuInpikes of Ohio anc
''macadamized roads" of Indiana are
practically the same thing-a grave
road only, requiring frequent patch
ing but hardening and improving by
time, provided the hauling is not toe
heavy at the start It certainly seems
time for general reform of the country
roads all over the nation