The suburban citizen., 1901-02-23
God Roads R6tss
Steel Track Wagon Roads s.
H HE advantages of having
etonI ,,,,,,,,,o,r 90 4Io x,.l,oo1

41A advantages OF having
steel runaway for the wheels
OF vehicles using country
9 roads have doubtless oc-,
Cured to many minds. They have
indeed been suggested mt various
times in print during this decade and
within the last three or four years
certain interesting experiments have
been made in this country with refer.
ences to this subject.
Aside from diminutive sections Of
road built on this principle by two
private individuals merely to illus
tratN possible modes Of construction,
the first OF these experiments consisted
in the construction in 1897, near Cleve-
land, by the State Highway Commits
sloner of Ohio, of a single piece Of
such road 500 feet long. In 1898 the
Office of Road Inquiry, in the Depart
ment of Agriculture, built an expert
mental section Of such road at the
Transmississippi Exposition at Omaha
and soon afterwards Mr.. e. G. HarTi-
SON. road expert of that Office laid
two similar sections, $50 and $50 feet
long, respectively at the agricultural
experiment stations at st. Anthony's
Park. Mimi, and at Ames, Iowa.
The construction involved in each
case two parallel lines of steel plates,
eight inches wide, spaced for the
wheels of standard guage vehicles.
Each line of plates has half-inch
fanges rising at its outer edges to
confne the wheels, and deep fanges
projecting on either side, three or four
inches downward, and then equally
as iar outward. These latter, being
| imbedded in the substructure, gave
| the plates rigidity. This substructure
( is concrete resting on crushed stone,
and the space between the plates is
4 macadamized. The plates are also
kept horizontal and equidistant by
/ steel ties
/ Some Of the traction tests made on
these roads were quite interesting. For
Example, in one OF these a load OF
leven tons, requiring twenty horses
% draw it over an ordinary village
.oad. was drawn over this road by n
! single horse. The availability of such
racks Tor bicycles or automobiles is
also evident. ...-,r.-.
The three principal advantages
laimed for such a road are cheap
! less. durability and reduced draft
,ower. It is estimated that after the
method of construction had become
established. such road would not cost
IN the average over $4,000 per mile
md that It would, without the need OF
important repairs, sustain degree OF
wear and tear quite out of proportion
20 that sustained by ordinary mac
adam roads.
The third and greatest advantage
1rged in it's behalf Is, however, thai
I would reduce the amount OF drat
bower requisite for a given load to
mere fraction of what is now neces
sary, and would at the same time ia
eilitate a great increment in speed L
Is also pointed out that the existence
Of such smooth and permanent road'
would accelerate the lesseninC of th
needless height Of wheels and over
weight of framework, which nov
characterize nearly all vehicles ez
cept the bicycle, would forward tn
use of mechanical propulsion, ant
would thus promote revolutionar,
changes in rural transportation.
A peculiar interest attaches TO thes
experiments, which rest principal.
upon the important and unquestione
economy of a steel track as compare
with any other surface for the traC
ton Of vehicles, and they awaken sic
nificant expectation for the prophesie
age of steel roads as against that q
dirt or even stone roads r. the countr!
Chicago Tribune.