The Opelousas courier., 1890-11-29
ROAD CONSTRUCTION.
The Best Way to Make and Repair Rosd
In Country Districts.

Inc bESG way TO Hl6A0 anu nOP1AE &NOoND
In Country Districts.
The making Of new roads and their
repairs, under the system generally in
vogue throughout most of the States,
devolves almost wholly upon the agri-
cultural portiono of the community, and
it may bea safely said that in Moth
ing in which they are SO deeply in-
terested has there been SO little i'm
provement. Roads are quite often
found running directly up steep places
at the points of hills, making both the
ascent and descent difficult, if not dam
gerous, when by a more circuitous and
but little longer route an easier grade
could have been obtained, over which
far heavier loads could have been
moved with comparative ease. Boys
and miry places are bridged over or
filed up in such q manner as to be BEN
Gifted only temporarily, If at all, and
to again become virtually impossible
in the worst seasons Of the year. Where
labor is expended on the roads it is
quite frequently SO timed as to inter-
eere as little as possible with farm work,
and at q season when the ground can not
properly settle and become hard be-
fore it is cut up by travel, and the road
becomes as bad as before. Very much
OF the blame for this state of things
may be laid to the road laws, which in
so many of the States leave the roads
wholly in the hands of the people of
small districts, to be worked only in
such a manner as the supervisor OF the
district shall direct, and chiefly by the
labor of men working under the COM
oulsion of law for the payment of a
Dad tax at a stated per diem for their
services. Usually the workers bring
the tools that suit them best, and come
and go at will, and there is no uniform
ity observed in the different districts,
by which an important road passing
through them shall be kept in good
order in all. It is not surprising under
such a state of things that the people
in many of the States are not only be-
coming dissatisfied with their roads but
demanding of their Legislatures such a
change in the laws on the subject as
shall substitute more efficient service
and result in better roads. To bring
about better roads it is absolutely neces-
sary that the system named shall be
changed to one of contract for specified
work to be done, or for direct pay under
he direction of persons who shall be
held to a strict responsibility for the
disbursement of the funds at
heir disposal, and for the best
form of road construction and
repair that the means will allow, and
in order to secure uniformity the whole
should be under the supervision of q
county superintendent. The first thing
to be done in improving the condition
of a long line of bad road should be a
review and survey that should make
such changes in the route as are prac-
ticable to afford easier grades, and,
wherever it can be done without mani
fest injustice to residents, avoid going
over grounds uncommonly bad in them
selves. How shall a country road be
constructed, and what shai 1t be made
of when the route is finally settled?
An answer to this question, to be of
any value in special cases would require
an accurate knowledge OF the locality
TO be passed over, its soil, geological
formation, and the e a at disposal.
In general terms a competent engineer
should be employed to locate and deter
mine as easy a grade as the natural
conditions of this country will allow;
locate bridges, culverts and bitches,
and so order the construction of the
road in all its particulars that the rain
fall on the road itself shall be drained
off as quickly as possible, and that the
water that falls adjacent to the road
| shall in no case be led into it or al
lowed to flow on it-Boston Globe.