Gloucester County Democrat. (Woodbury, N.J.) 1878-1932, 1897-01-21
COOP ROADS.

In the six years since the State AID la
. was passed, the State of New Jersey hs
appropriated $466 ,595 for road work, an
counties and individuals have added enoug
f more to make the sum total 81 AGO. 0t
For this about 300 miles of road have bee
constructed or contracted for; more bein
built from the appropriation last year tina
in any preceding, owing to cheaper ma
J teriaI being employed where the probabl
uses OF the road would permit it.
By June, of this year, the report says
there will be continuous improved high
! way from Atlantic City to and through Cam
} den to Burlington and Mount Holly. Link
are being constructed which will form witt
this continuous chain through Trenton
Princeton, New Brunswick, Elizabeth ans
Newark to Jersey City other roads alread,
/ built and building, serving as feeders
this great highway.
FL INSTRUCTIONS.
One of the most interesting and valuable
: chapters in the report is that OF lnstruc
lions to Freeholders, EogineeTs, Supervisor
and Others Interested in Building and Re
pairing Roads, made necessary by the fire.
\ ouent change in these officials. Some o
the suggestions are
"The hardest and toughest stone or rocl
procurable at reasonable cost should b.
selected.
sAll stone should be as near cubical al
possible, and none should be oyer II inche
each way in diameter.
tine earthen base should be thoroughly
drained, the water taken out and, kept out
then rolled until the roller ceases to make
any impression on it, and made to conform
to the same curvatures as the finished road
bed. There is no better base than dry
firm earth, not even a telford foundation
The metal should be spread at uniform
depth over the whole surface, then partially
consolidated by rolling; then thoroughly
Watered before the roller, which wetting
causes the pieces to glide more readily
together and to be more firmly bonded
without crushing. ANY depressions caused
by rolling to be remedied by picking up
with pick and adding sufficient stone to
bring the surface up to the proper leve
For this purpose on macadam and telfOrd
roads steam roller of ten or twelve tons
weight is best suited and most economical.
For gravel or earth roads horse roller
of from six to ten tons is sufficient. If the
metal is well rolled and compacted the
earth below will then be SO dry il will not
freeze, uplift and degenerate the bed Dry
stone, gravel or earth does not rapidly COM
pact; therefore,in the spring, after the frost
| is we'll out and the ground is moist, the
whole surface should be rolled with q
heavy roller. There is nothing which gives
better returns for the money invested than
free application of the roller to the surface
During the dry season the roads should
be frequently watered or covered with a
slight coat of loamy gravel
In short, perfectly good road must
have firm and unyielding foundation good
drainage, hard and compact surface, free
from all ruts, hollows or depressions, the
surface neither too flat to allow water to
stand, nor too convex to be inconvenient to
the traffic, and free from loose stones"
In addition are the rules of the Road I'M
provement Association, London, for the
guidance of road masters in keeping macad-
am and telford roads in repair.
"To make good road" Commissioner
Budd says" is one thing; to keep it in good
repair is quite another. The fine roads OF
Europe are the result of splendid repair
system, where every defect is remedied
before it has time to cause serious damage
to the highway"
| The lesson that has come out of the six
years. experience is that any kind of earth,
we'll drained and rolled, is the very best
| foundation for stone or other material (;
eight .inches, properly laid and rolled
upon solid earth foundation, will sustain
as heavy load without depressing as eigh-
teen inches. The experience of
the northern counties is that four inches of
macadam on a well-drained surface answers
most of their requirements, and six inches
is the maxium they require. In the mid
die counties they will have no greater
depth than eight inches. But in the lower
counties, where the soil is drier and pre-
sents the most desirable foundation, they
insist on roads ten to fourteen inches in
depth, making the cost SO great, taxpayers
are appalled,
STATEMENT OF ENGINEERS.
The most instructive sections are those
of the " Statements by Engineers and Super
yisorsn and the Form of Specifications,
etc." the detailed statements for the differ
emit conditions to be met and the different
materials to be used giving very clear
idea of the demands for the several sorts of
roads and why some are SO much more ex-
pensive than others.
William N. Carter, engineer of the Gl0u-
cester county division, referring to the we'll
known opposition OF tax payers of this Sec
| ton TO the Stone Road law" says -
If an equal amount now raised for stone
roads were expended by county and State
ia grading, draining and gravelling our
public. highways, the Improvements could
be distributed more generally over the
country, and larger percent. of the tax
payers would reap the benefit. thus over
coming, to greater extent, the opposition
"The broad tire (four-inch tread) is being
used to quite an extent in the county.
Some of the townships at their town meet
| ing have voted an appropriation to be ex-
pended in partial payment about one third
of the cost of charging a wagon from the
narrow to the broad tire. The good effect
upon the roads is, think, becoming notlc
cable. and I predict that it will be but u
few years when all wagons of heavy burden
will be on the broad tiren
| J. j. Albertson, engineer in charge of the
Atlantic county road, says: "A portion OF
the distance between Hammonton and Alb.
secon passes through unimproved wood
lots, a, d the owners, being unwilling to pay
10 per cent. OF the total cost, as is customary
under the State Aid Law, the Freehclders
aYailed themselves of that portion Of the
act which allows the county to pay two
thirds and the State the balance. The
line surveyed crossed a swamp 200 feet
long, over which we built an enbankment
three feet high and digged ditch 1900 feet
long to drain the pond.
This great thoroughfare, fifty feet wide,
will make valuable fire line through
South Jerseys pine barrsns, and will
l,doubtless be the means of saving thousands
of acres of valuable timber from the ravages
of forest fires, which are SO common and
destructive in this localityn
OF wide tires Mr. Albertson says
Rebates from the tax of the owner
changing his wagon TO a 4-inch tread; $40
for the year 1897, s., under the same con
ditions. for 1898; Sc for 1893 $4sfor 1900
So for 1901, and after that compuIsory
! provision, with fine, for all those that
have not accepted the provisions of the act.
1t is useless and extrav agant to build ex.
lpensive roads and then pillow them up with
heavily loaded, narrow tread wagon wheels.
The present laws authorizing such ordi
nances are faulty in construction, and, leay.
ling an opening for appeal and litigation
municipalities, while approving Of them
, deem it mad visable to act under them Al
European countries with improved road
have wise laws regulating the width of tire
used on wagons carts and vehicles for heav,
, draft. Experience demonstrates thai broat
tires are very much preferable for DRAWN,
loads throuph fields and nm farm, roads d