The Opelousas courier., 1896-09-26

'N'b ~ "SSASB ""o ~
in charge of the road inquiry office, Ag.
ricultural Department. to a Washing.
ton Star writer a few days ago. Gen
eral Stone is probably the best au.
thority on the road question in this
country. His office bears an advisory
or educational relation to the road
commissioners of all of the States and
Territories.
"Undoubtedly, the wearing surfaces
of oil highways connecting u great
cities and traversed by wagons and
light vehicles are to be fiat steal rails"
General Stone continued. "There is
no greater propr1ety or economy in
running q wagon than there would be
in running q railroad train we q
rough surface Of earth or stone. Horse
less vehicles will undoubtedly develop
metal roads. The cost, to begin with,
will be higher than that of stone or
concrete roads, but with the present
low price of steel the saving in wear
would much more than compensate for
the difference in cost. At the same
time the saving in the expense of haul
ing would be from fifty to eighty per
cent"
"What is your idea as to the way
such a steel highway should be built?"
cit should consist Of q double line
Of track, with a carriage road at either
side. Wagons with heavy loads could
follow one another upon it in a straight
line either way, while lighter and fas.
ter vehicles could pass them by turn
ins out occasionally into the side
roads. Flat rails laid upon stringers
should be the style of track used.
They should be LAID level with the
roadway, so that wheels might pass
onto Or off them without difficulty.
The general form of the rail should be
q shallow tough with flat bottom, and
outer edges raised only enough to give
a gentle guidance to the wheels. The
width should be suited to the gauges
of all vehicles. l find that in New
York and vicinity, where there is per-
haps the greatest variety Of road
vehicles, the gauges of wagons and
carriages range from four feet ten
inches to six feet. A rail ten inches
wide would therefore be necessary to
accommodate all of these gauges COM
fortably."
"Have steel rails ever been used on
highways?'
eyes. In Glasgow about fifty years
ago fiat rails eight inches wide were
used in this way. They were very
successful in diminishing traction.
The only objection to them was that
horses sometimes slipped and fell when
stepping upon the smooth surface of
the rails. Such a danger will be
avoided if rails are rolled with inden-
tations every few inches below the
general surface. As long as our high
ways are to be used by horses this will
be necessary, and it will not roughen
the track for wheels. Deep web rails,
similar to those now used on the best
street car tracks, could not be rolled
with such indentations. The deep
web rails will, however, make much
the better roadway when they can be
used.
otis difficulty would be that one
vehicle could not be passed by another
except upon sidings. A fat or slight.
~ concave steel rail only a small frac-
ton of an inch below the general sur
face Of the highway would be the per-
feet track for bicyclists. They could
easily follow a rail Of this kind ten iu-
ches wide. If not they would have no
difficulty in turning off. Many of the
riders in the city prefer to ride over
the slot of the cable cars. There would
be no necessity for switches if each
carriage had its independent motor.
The heavy wagons would have wide
tires and could safely turn out into
the stone road for passing slower We
hicles. especially OF down grades"
General Stone showed the writer
some interesting suggestions for steel
road building received from road au-
thorities in different States. Mr.. Mar
tin Dodge, State Highway Commits
sioner Of Ohio, proposes to lay rails
for the use, both of ordinary vehicles
and electric railways, and to let every
run his own private trolley car
on these lines. He says that it will
cost one-tifth as much per ton per
mile to transport over steel rails as it
would over the best macadamized road
that could be built. He further states
that a combined wagon road and rail-
way is to be put in practice IN the vi
of Cleveland, Ohio, to test the
merits Of the system. The timhers
holding the rails in place will 81 a
board walk for the horses. It is
claimed that the cost will be about
one-half that Of a macadamized roat&
The State Road Commissioner of
New Jersey, Mr.. Henry I. Budd, pro-
poses to lay steel rails about the thick
ness of ordinary boiler plate, rolled in
shape of q gutter five inches wide,
with a square perpendicular rim one
half inch high. 1t is arranged to form
; conduit FOR water and makes it easy
wheels to enter or leave the track.
ar. Budd says that one horse will
iraw on a steel track twenty times as
much as on a dirt road, and FIVE times
Is much as on macadam. A double
rack steel highway of his design, he
would cost a thousand dollars
ess per mile than one of nacadam
he same size: while a rural one-track
cad would cost five thousand dollars
ess, or two thousand dollars per mile.
Mr.. John O'DonneIl, ex-member of
he New York Railroad Commission,
proposes the use of gutter shaped
ais, spiked to t1mbers running the
anne length as the rails, the heads of
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