Montour American. (Danville, Pa.) 1866-1920, 1901-08-29

HEAAEr ana z hS&per To buAAu-N tNis
Road More Susceptible 10 Ruts-
l. LotIau. writing IN The Motor AZ,
On The Eaads 90 THE World" declared
that h- la> reached tie conclusion that
broad tires and narrow roads are the
Aey 10 TIE good roads problem. II
stands Co reason. be says. that II s
road j. narrow lt j. SELF wearing even
Ir IS far more economical "a build
quicker 10 construct and easier tO main
tain when lr needs looking after. We
80 proofs yf this in our own country
districts narrow roads that are al
most hard as adamaut while the wide
roa1s are often muck burrows"
Continuing Mr. Lodian writes: "Au
tom0biles may be seen running over
roads Ia Italy that were constructed
more than 1000 years ago-the self.
same roads. hundreds OF miles long
over which the Roman legions tramped
flushed with victory. over which 81
Paul walked and over which the French
troops - repeatedly marched IN the
early part Of the century just passed
And through all those ages Of ceutu-
Ttes the roads have scarce felt the touch
or repair. In fact. most of them have
never been repaired during 2.0OO years
or existence simply because they have
never needed repair.
When the Romans built their splen-
did military roads. they built them on
& sort II self repairing priuciple-tAat
IS they built them narrow enough to
compel traffic 20 wear them down even
ly, for the-what seems 10 US moderns
-naTTowuess OF the old Roman roads
has often been a matter Of remark.
The real object Of this narrowness
have never yet seen stated In any ex-
position on road engineering other
than the Idea being advanced OF econ
UMy and rapidity Of construction. But
/ learned the real motive during trav
els IN Italy in 1912.
we all know that a wide road is
only too liable 10 be worn into ruts. The
wider IL IS the more ruts IL will de
grade into unless sharply looked after.
! have seen some natural made roads
A-2 sDAAt-4 "a u AlaAi Af4 VI A1A4At W buA
such a collection OF rutsi On the other
hand during travels in the Mexican re-
public ] have seen uarrow-say II feet
natural made roads running through
a marshy country almost as hard and
compact and smooth as some OF the as
phalted streets OF New York, Paris or
Berlin. These roads in Mexico TO which
refer had on either side Of them the
quick mud country. In popular Ian
guage this country is termed quick
sands but, like a good many other
things popular. this is erroneous. The
earth Is literally quick mud, a tena-
cious clay. and sticks like glue TO the
clothing If you happen to sink foot
into IL, as did the writer Among rail
road engineers this quick mud is
known as gypsum and 10 handle the
treacherOus ground properly has been
& problem ia track construction. So in
Mexico the traffic, being forced to con-
fine itself ia the quick mud country TO
d L foot gauge. has in the course Of
years hammered out track as hard as
q first class French highway.
Now. the Romans built their 1000
year lasting highways purposely mar
row SO that the roads should be self
repairing self mending' or self wear
ing even or what expression you like
to apply TO a road which automatical-
ly, SO to speak, keeps Itself in good
order for a couple OF mlllenniums.
Since the old Romans never extended
their conquests to America, we are not
possessed OF any remains of their
roads, but the traveller In most parts
even find them as far north as old
Scotia-since the republic extended its
conquest even unto Caledonia. A sec
uonal view Of q Roman road shows
that the successive layers Of material
used In their construction consisted of,
first, loose stones, III feet thick; next,
stones and lime, three-fourths of foot
thick; then cemented brick and tile
debris, one-haf foot thick; the whole
topped by basalt blocks one foot thick.
The Roman road is not French road,
nor q metal road, nor one of Macad-
ans, but, so far as the surface Is con-
cerned. a substantial solid stone or
rock wearing surface, made thicker
and rendered more permanent than
even the thickest hagstone sidewalks
IN Europe or America ever were.
The loose stone underlayers render
ed drainage excellent. Can II be won
dered at that these ancient Roman
Hylsv Sftlf oil
feet as two millenniums ago? Just
think OF it-hundreds Of miles are still
IN good order, without having, as be-
fore stated, felt the touch of repair!
He may follow one Of these rock 7,
stone highways till 1t suddenly runs to |
seed In a cornfield or smiling vine val |
ley. He may be informed that If he !
likes to trudge across five or six miles /
OF cross country land under cultivation
lie viii pick up the stone highway
again The interregnum space of road |
has been torn up-nobody knows when /
for the construction OF forts or
houses. Even the peasants used to
tear up the roads for the sake OF the
fagstones when they wanted materials |
for their houses or mills. But all that
was stopped long ago In few places !
the torn up gaps have been replaced I
with metal roads, which have required .
more looking after and repairs In two
years than have the old roads Of the |
republic in 1000.
by metal road. 1t may be necessary |
to explain, is not meant road OF any |
metallurgical properties or coverings
but the kind Of broken stone used for
and usually rolled into the surface. !
This metal or, rather, mineral, 10
generally the common grayish blue /
tints visible on railways laying claim |
to standard rock ballast track-'"