Willmar tribune. [volume] (Willmar, Minn.) 1895-1931, 1906-05-30

TYPES OF OLD ROMAN ROAD.
they don't last long but that they
last as long as they do.
Macadam, who was one of the best
modern road-builders, constructed his
roads on the idea that when any road
bed is thoroughly underdrained, so as
to remain permanently hard, crushed
stone alone may be used, the pave
ment of Roman practice becoming I'M
necessary. Please note-thoroughly
underdrained, and crushed stone may
be used. The point is, how many
macadam rOadbeds are thoroughly I'M
derdrained, so that they remain per-
manently hard? I feel safe in say
ing not one in ten; in fact, the roads
built outside of cities and suburbs
are not, as a rule, underdrained in
any way.
In France, which has perhaps the
finest roads in the world, the roads
are divided into sections, and one or
two men are put in charge of a, Sec
ton to keep 1t in perfect repair
They are required to, go over the
road every day, and in every section
there is Toulouse, with quantity
Of stone ready for repair work al
ways on hand. The result is the cost
Of maintenance is very low and the
roads last for years.
Edward X. Parkinson.
In commenting upon the above ar
gument by Mr.. Parkinson, the editor
of the Country Gentleman says:
Mr.. Parkinson has preached a sub
ject THAT certainly deserves most
earnest consideration. If macadam
road becomes rutted and Quilted the
first winter, 1t may be questioned
whether it is very much better in the
long run than the mud-bank it re-
placed-that is, it will shortly revert
to condition about as bad.
On the other hand. the weight Of
expert opinion seems at present to
be against the attempt to build Ro-
man roads in this country Not only
is the expense excessively great but
such solidity is unnecessary, with or
binary care in draining Thus Mr..
W.. P. Judson, in his book on roads
and pavements, says that the Roman
roads ''were remarkable for their
strength and durability, and for lit
tie else. If anyone were so u.wise
as to attempt to build similar roads
now, the cost would be from four to
eight times the present cost of our
most expensive modern pavements.
which are, in every way, better for
modern uses, and upon which the
cities of the United States are esti-
mated to have expended half bill
lion of dollars
Similarly the late Prof Shaler de-
clares that the Romans ''built with
an utter disregard as to the relations
of strength and strain" He adds:
I'm the construction of the Roman
road we note crude perception of the
solidity which stone foundations at
ford, and also, in the cement layer,
a recognition of the Importance Of
keeping the road dry; beyond these
half-formed conceptions there is, in
these structures, no trace of engineer
ing skill. The sections OF the
Roman roads indicate that the con-
struction was often three feet or more
in thickness even in places where ex-
perience should have quickly told, as
it has taught moderns, that six or
eight inches of stone would have
served the purpose. In a singelarly
clumsy way they combined layers o.
different substances, one placed above
another, usually with a block pave
ment on top, in such conditions that
no beneficial effect whatever could
have been gained from such accumula-
ton. In general these roads, meas
ured in the cost of labor in this coun-
try, must have cost from $4,000 to
100000 mile. 1t is not too much
to say that at least three-fourths Of
the expenditure was really wasted"