The times., 1899-07-23


10 or II per cent, where by making little
detours the road might have been made
perfectly levein or by running IL up the
hills less abruptly the grade might have
been reduced to 3 or per cent, as is done
in the hilly regions of many parts of this
and other countries. Straight roads are the
proper kind to have, but in hilly countries
their straightness should always be sac
rifced to obtain a level surface so as to
better accommodate the people who use
them.
Graceful and natural curves conforming
to the lay of the land add beauty to the
landscape, besides enhancing the value of
property. Not only do level curv7i roads
add beauty to the landscape and make
lands along them more valuable, but the
horse is able to utilize his full strength
over them; furthermore a horse can pull
only four -fifths as much on grade of two
feet in one hundred feet, and this gradu-
ally lessons until with a grade of
ten feet in one hundred feet he can draw
but one-fourth as much as he can on
level road.
Good roads should therefore. wind
around hills instead of running over them,
and in many cases this can be done with
out greatly increasing he distance. To IL
lustrate, If a apple or pear can be cut IN
half and one of the halyes placed on nat
surface, it will be seen tlat the horizontal
distance around from stem TO blossom 1t
is no greater than the distance over be-
tween the same points.
Individual Objections to Progress.
THE willfulness of one or two private
individuals sometimes becomes a barrier
to traffic and commerce. The great draw
back to the laying out of roads on the
principle referred to is that of the necessi-
ty in some cases, of building them through
the best lands, the choicest pastures or
orchards, instead, as they do now, of cut
ting around the farm line or passing
through old worn-out fields or over rocky
knols. But if farmers wish people to
know that they have good farms, good
cattle, sheep, or horses, good grain, fruit,
or vegetables. they should let the roads
go through the hest parts of the farms.
THE difference in length between a
straight road and one which is slightly
curved is less than one would imagine.
Says Sganzin: If a road between two
places ten miles apart were made to curve
so that the eye could see no farther than a
quarter of a mile of it at ence, its length
would exceed that OF a perfectly straight
road between the same TCiEts by only
about $50 yards Even if the distance
around a hill be much greater, it is often
more economical to construct it that way
than to go over and necessitate the expend-
iture of large amounts of money in reduc-
ing the grade, or waste OF much valuable
time and energy in transporting goods in
that way. Gillespie says that, as a general
rule, the horizontal length of a road may
be advantageously increased to avoid an
ascent by at least twenty times the perpen-
dicular height which is thus to be avoided
that is. TO escape a hill 100 feet high it
would be proper for the road to make such
a circuit as would increase its length 1900
feet The mathematical axiom, that a
straight line is the shortest distance be-
best rule to follow in laying out road;
better is the proverb that the longest way
round is the shortest way home
Grades and Drainage.
The bulletin goes exhaustively into the
subject of roadbuildng. Nothing has es-
capped the attention of Mr.. Eldridge. He
treats of grades, drainage, surface drain
age, water breaks. side bitches, and how
to repair roads by the aid of machinery
He devotes considerable space TO different
kinds of roads, such as earth roads. sand
roads. roads of sawdust and tanbark, cor
duroy roads. hard roads, gravel roads, shell
roads. stone roads, macadam roads, and
teresting bulletin with a short chapter on
the cost of roads, as follows:
THE improvement of country roads
is chiefly an economical question
relating principally to the waste
of effort in hauling over bad
roads, the saving of money, time, and en-
ergy in hauling over good ones, the initial
cost of improving roads, and the difference
in the cost of maintaining good and bad
ones. 1t is not necessary to enlarge on
this subject in order TO convince the aver
age reader that good roads reduce the re-
sistance to traffic, and consequently the
cost of transportation of products and
goods to and from farms and markets is
reduced to a minimum.
Trivial Cost of Road building.
"The initial cost of a road depends upon
the cost OF materials, labor, machinery,
the width and depth to which the mate
rial is to be spread on, and the method Of
construction. All these things vary so
much in the different States that it is i'm
possible to name the exact amount for
which mile of a certain kind of road can
be built.
The introduction in recent years of i'm
proved road building machinery has en-
abled the authorities in some of the States
to build improved stone and gravel roads
quite cheaply First-class single track
stone roads. Q feet wide, have been built
near Canandaigua, n. Y, for $500 to ST. 900
per mile. Many excellent gravel roads
have been built in New Jersey for 81 900
to 81 300 per mile. The material of which
they were constructed was placed on i'll
two layers, each being raked and thor
oughly rolled, and the whole mass con-
solidated to a thickness of S inches. In
the same State macadam roads have been
built for 1000 to S5,G00 per mile, varying
in width from to 90 feet and in thick
ness of material from TO 12 inches. Tel
ford roads II feet wide and 10 to Il inches
thick have been built in New Jersey for
81 900 to $4,000 per mile. Macadam roads
have been built at Bridgeport and Fair
field. Conn. is to 20 feet wide, for $4,000
to s., 600 per mile. telford road 16 feet
wide and u inches thick was built at Fan
wood, N j., for $500 per mile. Maca-
dam roads have been built in Rhode ISL
and, 16 to 20 feet wide, for 81, 600 to s., ,000
per mile.
Massachusetts roads are costing all the
way from $4,000 TO s25, 600 per mile. A
mile of broken stone road, fifteen feet
wide, costs in the State of Massachusetts
about $500 per mile, while mile CT the
same width and kind of road costs in the
State OF New Jersey only 81, ZOO This is
due partly to the fact that the topography
of Massachusetts is somewhat rougher thar
that of New Jersey, necesstating the re-
duction of many, steep grades and the
building of expensive retaining walls ant
| bridges, and partly TO the difference il
methods of construction and the differenc,
, in prices of materials, labor, etc.
Doubtless the State of New Jersey /!
building more roads and better roads fol-
| less money per mile than any other Stat,
in the Union. Their roads are now costing
/ from 90 cents to 10 cents per square yard
Where the telford construction is Lset
! thev SOMETHING'S cost as much as 73 cent.