The Yale expositor., 1905-09-15
A COMBINATION ROAD
ADVANTAGES OF A DIRT AND STONE
HIGHWAY.

Less Expensive to Keep In REPAIR
Than One Quilt Entirely OF Either
Material - Cheapest and Most Com
venient Road For Many Sections.
There are not few people who de-
cry the dirt road as being utterly
worthless under any and all circum-
Stances, says William E.. Voorhees, in
the Good Roads Magazine. Accord
worthy of the name can be made of
dirt. 1t is a wasteful and extravaganza
creation; a thing that swallows taxes,
mires horses and wagons, fills the trav-
eler with dust, and, in short, is an evil
from any standpoint that 1t may be
viewed. The opponents of the dirt
road naturally look upon the stone
highway as an ideal thoroughfarc.
They point to its excellent tractive
qualities; they call attention to the
fact that it is dry in winter as well as
in summer, and they argue that it is
the consummation to be desired by
every progressive community.
"Now, the fact of the matter is-as
any unprecedented student of the road
question will admit-neither of these
views is wholly correct. The dirt road
as ordinarily built and maintained is
very poor affair, especially in the
winter and early spring months, but
there are seasons when n dirt road is
preferable to a stone highway for light
driving. The stone road, if well built,
is so far in advance of the dirt high
way that many people have reached
the conclusion that as a matter of con-
venisnce and economy the former
should supplant the latter in every
case. But the stone road has its linn
itations. In dry weather it is not
pleasant to travel over on account of
the noise that is caused by the horses
hoofs and the wagon tires coming in
contact with the hard material. The
ideal highway would therefore appear
to be one which combines the best
features of the two most pronounced
types of roadway-namely the dirt
and the stone. The best method to
economic in stone road construction
is to decrease the width of the track.
4 stone road eight feet in width neces-
sarily costs but one-half as much as a
highway sixteen feet wide, and in the
large majority of cases it will answer
the purpose just as well as the wider
It will therefore be seen
that the first advantage in favor Of the
combination road is that of cheapness
ON account of the narrow stone track
which is possible with this type of
The great disadvantage of n dirt
road is that it will hold water and is
easily cut into ruts and holes. During
the winter months of alternate freeZ-
ing and thawlng it is practically inn
possible to keep waterlogged dirt
road in passable condition for travel.
On the other hand, the stone road, hav-
ing a surface that is practically i'm
pervious to water, will remain hard
and firm even in bad weather. The
stone road is therefore strong at the
point where the dirt road is weak, but
in like manner the latter is strong
where the former Is weak. In good
weather no one cares TO use stone
road for pleasure driving. The dirt
road is noiseless and the dust that
arises from it Is not usually so I'M
pleasant as that which rises from n
macadam highway.
lone of the advantages of such road
as is being described that will readily
Dccur to every practical roadmaker is
that 1t Is less expensive to keep in re-
pair than the road which is construct
ed entirely of stone or entirely of dirt.
1t is we'll understood that a dirt road
wears fastest In winter, while under
the usual conditions the largest wear
on q stone road occurs during the sum-
mer months. In the combination road
the winter, when it is in the best con-
dition to withstand the action Of traf-
&c, while the dirt road Is most largely
used during the summer months, when
travel has the least effect upon 1t. The
wear on each kind of material Is thus
reduced to q minimum.
at will therefore be seen that for
many sections the cheapest and most
highway is that which has
both stone and an earth track. The
width Of the stone portion Will depend
upon the width of the entire roadway;
1t need not in any case be over twelve
feet wide and ordinarily 1t need not
be over eight feet in width. 1t is well
to bear in mind, however, that the
dirt and stone road is
only practical on a reasonably wide
Narrow country roads
must, necessarily, be either all dirt or
all stone. On n road of from twenty to
twenty-four feet in width the stone
track can be constructed on one side.
On a road over twenty-four feet in
width the stone track can be placed
In the middle, with a dirt drive
on either side. The stone portion
should be constructed exactly in
The manner that a macadam or tel