The Republican journal., 1902-11-27
A GOuD ROADS MOVEMENT.

right direction those who have visited
the LIMERICK city in mud-time will
readily testify. At the annual banquet
last week of the Rockland Board the
special guest was A. +. McClintock,
chairman of the Massachusetts road
commission, who had been invited to
give the local board some practical
ideas on the important subject of good
road building. His address was of much
interest, and portions of it equally APP
plicable to other places. For example:
You cannot build permanent roads out
of clay and mud" said Mr. McClintock
Look at your Main street. What man
would be willing to have it go back to
its condition as l saw it 25 years ago.
If you had not paved that street you
would have expended more for repairs
than the paving cost Granite pave
ments are not necessary on all the
streets. You cannot afford it, and it
is not desirable in the residential sec
tions." And further
ditions. but in Massachusetts there are
not a dozen towns where the desired
quality can be found. Where there is
heavy teaming the wagon cuts through
the surface and it is converted into
mud. These roads may be repaired at
slight cost by the use of broken stone.
But whether you use gravel or broken
stone 1t Is first necessary to get rid of
the ground water, which is the enemy
Of all road-buiders. 1t gets into the
soil underneath the road and if that
soil is not porous and clay is not por-
ous) it does not drain The frost ex-
pands this wet soil, and i'll the spring it
collapses. The material which is put on
TO repair is equally liable to disappear
On such roads not more than three
pounds to the square inch can be haul
ed safely.
The side drain bottom should have a
depth OF three feet below the proposed
road surface and dip toward the drain
age point. This is filled in either with
coarse stone or gravel and the pipe laid
OF that. 1t is necessary to treat all
non-porous soil in this fashion and
where clay roads are in vogue two
drains should be put in
II We are to build stone roads it is
y
which is to lie accommodated. 1t does
not pay to use inferior rock where the
travel is to be heavy. If the traffic is
light limestone or the softer Maine
granite may be used.
In the use of broken stone the nearer
the fragments approach to uniform
SIZE, the better are the results. The pre-
ferabIe sizes are half inch. / ID inches, 2
- inches. The largest stones are
placed at the bottom and the half-inch
material Is used as binder. No loan
or clay Is necessary on that. The best
way to get such stone is by the use of a
crusher. II would not be economy for
kockland to buy stone, but it would be
economy to buy a crusher, pass the
stone through screens. and place it on
IN the proper manner
In building good road tie following
steps should be taken: Good drainage:
shaping the sub-grade: roll thoroughly
with steam-roller; a layer of porous
material, such as gravel: telfording if
necessary: coarse stone to a depth ) or
u inches, rolled thoroughly: four
inches OF next size stone, thoroughly
rolled: even up the depressions with
stone OF the same size, thoroughly roll
ed; then layer of tie half-inch stone,
thoroughly Watered, put on, and then
thoroughly rolled.
In building permanent roads stone
crushing plant and steam roller are es-
sential. The steam roller is one nipple
ment which has made road building
popular aud cheaper 1t is less expen.
Siye than the horse roller and makes a
smoother, harder and more durable
road. The stone crusher when set up
consists of q crusheT, engine. set of
bins and an elevator. II you own your
own crusher the cost OF preparing stone
is from 10 to 20 cents a ton, but the
stone would be worth so or - cents
more, broken so. a good portable ma
chine mounted on wheels would cost
about 81 $50, and they run as high as
~, 300, \ steam roller of 10 tons would
cost from $4,000 to s., 200. y on ought
TO have that anyhow. but if you at
tempt economical work you should
have both. 1t takes from $500 to 5000
tons OF stone for each mile of road, at
II cents ton, and the entire cost of
building streets i'll Rockland would not
exceed 81 500 a mile.
The shape of a road is another i'm
portant point. Water falling on the
surface of road should not be allowed
to remain there, but should be carried
to the gutter. The chief fault with
most roads is that they are high from
the gutter and level on top. The
proper shape is where it curves toward
the centre with a rise OF three fou1ths of
an inch to the foot In the village the
pitch is changed to one-half inch. on
the more permanent pavements it is
three-eighths and on the asphalt pave
ment one-quarter of an inch.
Mr.. McClintock's address was follow
ed by a general discussion. ExMayor
+. a. Butler asked if the great difficulty
with road building had not been the
lack of proper attention to foundation.
Mr.. McClntock replied that the drain
age problem was the worst difficulty.
Water soaks into and under a road, and
should be carried away from the sur.
face by short lengths of pipe, cheap
commodity at the present time. The
foundation should then be built of gray
ell or stone. In reply to a question from
Ex-Mayor +. c. Knight as to provis-
ion in Massachusetts for wide tires Mr..
McClintock said: "A wide tire law
went into effect on the LIST of January,
1902. 1t was based on the diameter of