The Morris County chronicle. [volume] (Morristown, N.J.) 1877-1915, 1902-07-25
ROAD CONSTRUCTION
SOME SUGGESTIONS BY A MICHIGAN
HIGHWAY SUPERVISOR.

The Importance of Drainage-POints
ON Building Earth Roads-When
and How to Grnde-How to Improve
Sand Highways.
At certain seasons Of the year earth
roads can be made second to none. but
at other seasons they are almost i'm
passable, writes A. ]. Sager in the
Vicksburg (NIich) Herald. Can any
thing reasonable be done to improve
the average earth road either in it's
most favorable or it's worst condition!
The object Of this article is to offer
some suggestions as an answer to this
question.
Drainage is the most important sub
ject to be considered in the construc-
ton of earth roads. No road, whether
earth or stone, can long remain good
without drainage. Drainage alone will
often change a bad earth road to a
good one, and the best road may be de-
stroyed by the absence of proper drain
age. Many if not most country high
ways could be considerably improved
by thorough subdrainage. Most people
appear to think that the sole object of
drainage is to remove the surface wa
ter, but this is only small part of the
object of undertakings of roads,
The most important object of under
draining is to lower the water level in
the soil. The action of the sun and
the breeze will finally dry the surface
soft and spongy the road becomes
worn full of uneven places. The first
showers fill these depressions with wa
ter, and the road is soon mass of
mud. A good road cannot be main
tanned unless it has good foundation,
and an undrained soil is poor foun-
dation, while a dry soil will support
almost any load.
All roads except those on pure sand
can be materially improved by tile
drainage, but l would not advise tile
being used except where underdrain-
age is required. Gravel or broken stone
placed upon an undrained foundation
is almost sure to sink gradually, what
ever its thickness, whereas thinner
layer upon an underdrained roadbed
will give much better service. Road
tiles without gravel are better than
roads graveled without tile.
The best tool to smooth the road
grade with early in the spring is
light drag used while the frost is COM
ing out. The road should be scraped
lightly with the road machine as soon
as it is settled, and heavy grading
should be done early in the spring
while the ground is soft. The road
should not be rounded up or scraped
heavily late in the summer Or in the
fall, for then the earth thrown up in
the center will not unite with the
foundation, even after being rolled
unless the fall is an unusually wet one
The proper crown can be easily and
cheaply obtained by the use of the
road machine or grader After the
roadbed has been rounded with the
grader, If it has been drawn by teams
it should be rolled with as heavy roll
err as is available. If the grader is
drawn by a traction engine, the large
wheels will compact the earth better
than any roller obtainable in the coun-
try, and the engine will save the
strength of the horses.
Roads on pure sand or nearly pure
sand require very different treatment
from roads on clay or loan. The pre-
ceding rules for the drainage of loan
and clay roads must be reversed for
sand roads. Wet sand makes better
road than dry sand, and therefore
draining sand road is useless and
possibly a damage. OF course this is
not true of quicksand, as described in
the first of the article, but there is very
little if any of that found in sand
roads Roads ON quicksand are i'm
proved by draining.
Sand roads are usually nearly level
and need little if any grading. They
should not be crowned, since they do
not need surface drainage. The trav-
eled portion should be simply leveled
off. The great disadvantage of pure
sand as a road material is the freedom
with which the grains move one on the
other. Therefore to improve Sanu
road encourage grass to occupy all the
space possible. The roots will decrease
the movement of the sand under the
tread of the hoofs and wheels.
1t is an. advantage if vegetation oc-
cupies the surface clear up to the trav-
eled way-both for the shade and for
the binding effect of the roots. Shade
harms a loan or clay road, but i'm
proves a road of sand or broken stone
since it prevents the evaporation of
the moisture from the roadbed. There
fore a sand road can be permanently
improved by planting trees so as to
shade the travelled way They will
prevent in part the drying effect of the
winds as well as intercept the rays of
the sun.
Making Encouraging Progress.
Good things come slowly, we are