The Havre herald. [volume] (Havre, Mont.) 1904-1908, 1906-06-08
ROAD IMPROVEMENT
SOME POINTS BY NAMES COMMlS-
SIONER OF HIGHWAYS,

/ The first annual report of the de-
partment of highways of the state of
Maine has been issued by Commission
er Paul D. Sargent. 1t is a yoluminous
document and contains much of inter
est. Here are some interesting ex-
cerpts:
Country roads in general may be i'm
proved in the following ways: By cut
ting out the bushes and grubbing out
the roots By Strengthening the grad
+ ed portion of the road and taking out
the short sharp and dangerous cor
ners and curves. By widening the
roads. BY improving the drainage
BY cutting down the hills.
There are miles Of our country roads
can be made until the bushes are first
removed. Indeed, the thorough re-
moval of these bushes would be of
great value to the roads in allowing the
sun and wind to dry the surface early
In the spring. When bushes are re-
moved the roots should be grubbed out
and both bushes and roots piled neatly
and burned as soon as dry.
Under no circumstances should they
be thrown into the side bitches, back
against the fences or upon adjoining
land. Highway rights of way should
present as neat appearance as do the
railroad rights Of way, and If the above
suggestions are followed in perform
ing this work and a little care taken
In cleaning up after the work Is com
pleted our roadsides can gradually be
made permanently attractive.
There are in nearly every town
stretches of road made up of several
short courses, and before Improvement
Is undertaken on any of these, all
short, sharp corners and curves should
be eliminated as far as possible
Many of our roads present a crooked
appearance, when In reality the loca-
ton is a straight line, the crooks hav
ing been made when the road was
graded to relieve the builders from
grubbing out stump or removing
boWlder. If Improvement is contem
plated on a road in this condition, by
all means let a beginning be made by
Strengthening the grade SO that the
finished road will bear the marks Of
good workmanship. By the use Of a
few stakes for lining up new work,
road commissioners will, in widening
roads, be able to make use of all Of
the old grade and have a good straight
road as a result.
A poorly drained earth road will
wear better if wide than when narrow,
as the traffic will then be more evenly
distributed over the surface, and in
consequence there will be less liability
of the traffic forming deep ruts during
the muddy season. These ruts increase
In depth rapidly and are exceedingly
detrimental to any road.
For three or four months in the sum-
mer season many of our country roads
are pleasant roads to travel. During
the spring and fall, however, these
same roads are in many instances
cause must be removed, the water
must be kept away from them and
that which falls on them speedily TAX
en- away. Subdrainage will keep the
subsOil water away from the road
foundations and proper crown and sur
face drainage will carry away that
which falls upon their surface. We
believe there is no one thing which will
return better results for money ex-
pended on roads than will drainage
Next to securing perfect drainage at
tention should be directed to reducing
steep grades in order that the benefits
arising from improving other portions
Of the road may not be lost by the ina
bility Of teams to haul full load up
the grades. It should be determined
positively that no better route can be
obtained around the hill before money
Is laid out on the hill in permanent i'm
provements, as it will probably be i'm
possible to change the location after
much permanent work has been done.
Cutting off the tops of hills and filing
at the bottom will be the only way of
reducing grades where the old location
Is followed. One-half of the road may
be excavated and scraped out at time,
leaving the other half for traffic to use.
The worst hill should be treated first
and completed before work is begun on
others.
In maintaining or repairing the sur
face Of any road, filing depressions
and ruts material like that composing
the surface should be used in order that
a perfect union or bond between the
old material and the new may be OBJ
tanned and the resulting surface be uni
form.
No one would think of repairing
macadam or crushed stone road with
clay; neither should surface depressions
or ruts in clay or other earth road be
filled with stone. In the latter case a
depression, if filled with stone, will be-
come a hard spot, on either side of
which the travel will make a new de-
preston, thus giving two depressions
or mudholes in place of the original
one.
Fare frh