The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1892-02-12
THELOcATION OF HIGHWAYS.
A Matter of the Utmost Importance

When a railroad Is contemplated
between two distant points careful
surveys are made by competent en-
sIneers, and before route is finally
selected all of the preliminary lines
which hav. been run are carefully
put down on a map. estimates are
made as to the cost of building and
maintaining each, and further CAL
culations elaborated as to the traffic
which each of the lines would be
,ble to secure and accommodate.
With all these facts and estimates
before them the engineers and cap
itallsts finally decide where the road
shall be located. Upon such pre-.
liminary work time and money
IRE freely spent, for it is well known
to all railroad managers that bad
location Is very expensive error to
make at the outset, and one, too,
which 1t is almost impossible to
repair.
1t requires even more engineering
care and skill to properly locate
country highway than is needed in
the selection Of the best route for u
railroad.
When the roads which traverse
all parts of the United States were
originally laid out they were planned
without reference to any great SYM
tenn, which should at once answer
immediate requirements and last
for all time. When the population
became denser and the roads being
moe travelled were found to be in
adequate there was an effort made
IN all such places to build perma.
nent roads. But in the great ma.
jority OF cases the old haphazard
location OF the roads was deemed to
be good enough, and these tracts
through the forests and over tho
praries were adopted rs permanent
highways. As traffic further in
creased these roads were again
found to be inadequate, and the
statesmen Of the country saw very
plainly that the poor roads which
prevailed nearly all over the United
States seriously menaced the pros
perity of the people.
Then began on a large scale u
plan of highway improvement by
which the various states should be
connected with each other. Before
these great national roads, assisted
by the government, had been com.
pleted the railway came into being,
and the attention OF men was d.
rected to making these new iron
highways. The great systems of
common roads we're neglected, and
the care and construction Of coun-
try highways passed back to each
county or township. And so they
have remained-neglected, uncared
fora heavy tax on land and all
that land produces, a menace to
agricultural prosperity and the
great contributing cause which
takes to the over-crowdcd cities
from farms and villages the most
vigorous youths and the most sturdy
maidens.
This system of properly locating
and building common highways
having been abandoned some half
century ago, it has become incum-
bent upon this generation to take
up the work where it was there left
off. In locating a railroad an engi-
neer needs to bear in mind that the
railroad must be approached wher.
ever there is to be station. Stations
are usually several miles apart, and
therefore this part of his problem
is so simpllfed that he can locate
his road with regard entirely TO the
general Typographical features of
the country, and then establish the
stations at such places as may be
easy of approach. But the engineer
locating highway must bear IN
tIiiuu tlut tllS IOdu Ill uSl VI dCCcSSl-
Bile on both sides as far us it
stretches. See what difference
this makes. The railroad engineer,
III running up valley, can hug
high hills on one side with turbu-
lent water course on the other, but
such location would be ont of the
question for the highway engineer,
for those who are to use his road
must be able to reach it easily from
the farms on either side. and that
without going out of their way.
And IN the matter OF drainage,
which is of even more Importance
in building highway than rail
road, the last is more complex.
The railroad runs over low ground
with an embankment. and vt CON
vcnicnt places lets the water through
with trestlc or an open culvert.
Such expedlents are not permissible
in locating highways. The high
way engineer must select his route,
so that he can take the water he