The Scranton tribune. [volume] (Scranton, Pa.) 1891-1910, 1895-07-20
The Need of Good
Roads Explained.
Costs as Much to Get Ton of Wheat to
the Depot as to Haul 1t 400 Miles by Rail

| increasing volume for more than ten
years. During that time. as Gen. Stone
has shown. sixteen states have passed
new road laws. and one has amended
| its constitution to permit the adoption
OF such laws The general trend of the
legislation enacted In the sixteen states
| Is to provide that the road tax shall be
paid in money and not in labor.
| "In states like New York and Massa-
chusetts. where two-thirds of the popu-
lation and three-fourths of the assessed
valuation OF property Is in the cities,
the provision for state aid enables and
requires the cities to pay share of the
cost, and this is manifestly proper,
since they share largely in the benefits.
The cost to the farmer. who derives the
greatest benefit. is reduced to baga-
telle. General Stone states that in New
Jersey the annual road tax is about ten
cents per an acre and the assessment
about four cents additional. In spite OF
this small cost it Is remarkable fact
that the road laws in New York. and
also in Pennsylvania, providing for i'm
provement at the cost of the state,
under which three-fourths of the ex-
pense would fall upon the cities. have
been defeated by the representatives OF
the farmers.
Some American Examples.
| Union county. New Jersey. lies about
twenty-five miles southwest of New
| York, contains about one hundred
| square miles. and its population In 1889
| was 72467. It's main roads are thirty
| five miles In length. A competent en-
gineer. F.. A. Durham, was appointed
to take charge Of the work improving
them. The width of the roads varied
according to the locality and the traf-
fic, with crown or rise in the centre
of twelve inches. or this width ten
feet had telford foundation. fourteen
feet had McAdam metal and two wings,
ten feet in width on each side, were OF
earth.
1.-THE road was first graded to Its ap-
proximate form. and then the space Of
ten feet in the middle was eXcavated
| to a depth of twelve inches. This was
| then thoroughly rolled in order to COM
pact the earth on which the stone por-
tion of the road was to be built. Next
the telford was laid. This consisted Of
| irregular pieces of trap rock about SXl2
inches on the under side, AXIS inches on
the upper side. and eight inches in
height. These were placed by hands as
close together as possible. and the spac-
es in the surface were filled In with
spalls and smaller pieces Of stone,
| which were wedged into the openings
as tightly as possible A small amount
Of fine trap screenings were then spread
| over the telford for binding, and 1t was
then thoroughly rolled. The macadam
| was placed over this In two layers
each Of which was two inches thick,
the first layer consisting of stone brok-
en- to one and half inches in size Each
layer was finished with a small amount
of fine binding material, and then thor
oughly rolled with ten ton roller. the
surface being kept constantly wet by a
sprinkling cart while the rolling was in
progress. After the stone road in the
middle was completed the earth roads
on the side were rolled and the road
was finished.
These roads have given great salts
faction to all the residents in the coun-
ty; they have been in use for several
years with very slight repairs. and are
still in excellent condition. They can
be maintained SO with proper care and
at small cost for long period. The
cost Of these roads was a little more
than $500 per mile and they may be
taken as a type of the most expensive
roads that 1t Is necessary to construct
anywhere outside of the boundaries of
cities and towns. In the southern part
Of New Jersey the roads have been con-
structed on a much smaller scale, the
width of the road being about twenty
feet and the metal portion only eight
feet, the telford foundation has been
omitted, and the thickness of the maca-
dam reduced to eight inches. The cost
Of these roads has been about $1,000 per
mile.
Good Roads at Small Cost.
an New York some excellent roads
have been built in the vicinity Of Gam
andaigu8, where the town bought a
stone crusher and steam roller. They
built macadam roads. consisting of a
crushed stone roadibed about eight feet
w luc ucdIiy u lOOt uCCP All TIC
center of the turnpike some twenty
five to thirty feet in width, eloping
enough to shed the surface water, but
not too steep to drive on any part Of
1t. at an expense Of $40O to 500 per mile
the smaller sum In cases where the
stone had been contributed and drawn
into piles by the neighboring farmers
without expense to the town. While 1t
Is not possible to construct important
highroads in the vicinities of large cities
at any such rice as this, yet 1t Is pos
sible to duplicate this work on ordi-
nary country roads wherever the farm
ers are willing to cooperate. The plant
necessary for the purpose consists of a
portable stone cruSher and steam en-
gine, costing about $4,000. and a steam
roller costing about $500. or a total ex-
penditure of $500. These should be
owned by the county. and can be moved
to any place where the road building
OF repairing is in progress. The broken
stone can, in the majority of cases,
especially In the Middle and Eastern
states be obtained from the fields. A
large part Of 1t is already broken to the
proper size. at least for the lower course,
and the rest Of 1t can be run through
the crusher at AN exense OF about 20
cents per cubtc yard. The crushar can
move along the road every night or
twice per week, thus reducing the haul
Of the stone to and from the crusher
to minimum.
Long experience has shown that the
only form Of durable road is one made
with crushed stone. There has been a
difference Of opinion among engineers
as to the necessity for the telford foun-
dation. but the generally accepted opin-
ron now IL that the telford should be
used, and Is worth more than 1t costs
on rolds OF heavy traffic. On roads of
light traffic II can he omitted