The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1902-01-15
GOVERNMENT: .RoApMAKING.

49,, ~ aaF. t.@S;, -. !! y ss,eej l;sssss -
GOVERNMENTS ROADMAkiNG.
Work of Construction Supplemented by
Lectures by an Expert. S. SIS
Several weeks ago the department. Of
agriculture began its first experiment
in roadbuilding at New Brunswick,
N. j., under the direction Of E. B. 3
Harrison, special agent Of the Office Of
road inquiry.
The model road being considered Is
the first of several which the govern.
ment is to build at the Earious expert
ment stations throughout the country.
The government furnishes rock crush
er, screen, engine to drive steam roller,
spreading wagon and road grading ma
chine and two skilled operators. The
city furnishes the material, carts and
laborers. iRA.. s.si1 Il
The road will be Of macadam pattern.
An inferior grade Of. traprock is found
In abundance near New Brunswiok and
this is being used in the substructure
of the road; The supersGuoture is OBJ.
tanned from the traprock deposits in;
the neighborhood Of Plain6eld and the
Oranges. szl4 ID !:
The. model pavement will have q
depth Of about nine inches and the foun-i
dation be made Of small, wedge shaped,
broken stones Of as nearly the same di-.
mensions as possible. The roadbed will
be prepared by thoroughly rolling with
q steam roller weighing about ten tons.
Every hole will be carefully filed with
the same material that composes the
rest Of the roadbed, and the finished
cross section will be formed by two
grades Of one foot in so feet from the.
aides, uniting at the center, with the
apex slightly rounded. Four inches Of
crushed stone will be spread on the
carefully prepared roadbed TO form the
foundation Of the substrnctnre. The
largest Of these stones will be crushed
30 fine as to be able to easily pass
through q two inch ring, and the esnall- !
est will be about half an inch in diam
eter. " ..js gS
This foundation will then be sprin-
kled, making The stone as vet as possi-
BILE without softening the roadbed, and
the roller passed over it a9ew times
until the stone is only slightly disturbed
fbys the teams returning with the empty
carts. The first foundation Is not made
deeper than four inches, because it has
been found that q greater thickness
causes the stones to - ell bow y together,
wearing of. their sharp corners, making
the bonding, :, ,whichis the great de-
sideratum, q very slow process, II not
an impossib bility. II d +
When the first foundation has been
thoroughly sprinkled, 9 second coat OF
similar stone three inches ii thickness
will be applied. After the stone has
been well bonded = to this axtentit will
again be sprinkled and while very vet
thin coating Of traprock screenings
will be most carefully spread over the
surface, just thick enough to fill the
small spaces between the stones. The
size Of the stones Of. thig last applica-
tion, which is called in the parlance Of
roadbuilding the Hbinder, " will be
from half an inch in. diameter TO the
finest dust. When the work has reached
this stage, it will be left untouched Ia
the dry state as; long as practicable TO
harden and bind. The application ct
water and the passage OF vehicles will
be prevented as long as practicable.