The midland journal. (Rising Sun, Md.) 1885-1947, 1907-03-01

must decide how steep you Will allow the grades
on the road to be, and then what grades must be
reduced to come within this maximum. Now it
is just as much expense to do all this for gravel
road as for stone road, and gravel will not last
rs long as stone. but in deciding which material
YOU use the amount of travel on the road and the
cost of maintenance must be considered If you
really desire TO reduce the cost to the minimum
it is sometimes best to incur the greater first cost
aud thus diminish maintenance costs.
At Akin Avenue for example, gravel would
have been much cheaper in the first cost but the
yearly expense for repairs to gravel road would
nave made it an extremely costly road. In some
places gravel is really cheaper, but you cannot
use gravel without first building foundation In
some places in the county no doubt il you put
clay on sandy road you would improve that
| road somewhat, or you might also by putting
sand on some of your clay roads, but the difficulty
is that you are forced to do this sort of road
| repair to the same road every year and that is
where the xpense comes in. The best way to do
here in the county if you in doubt as to best
material is TO build section of gravel and one Ct
stone road under sopewhat similar conditions
md then compare the cost OF maintaiuance of
the two.
Now just few words on the securing of funds
lpT Luc UuhuIuS Oi Tie TOduS Inc uSudI Why Is
py borrowing and issuing bonds for the debt In
| considering this method you must decide two
questions
Whether yon can so interest the intelligent
| people in the community in the subject that you
| Can secure such supervision of the expenditures
d. wilfassure you that you will get the full value
for that money which you bond yourself to pay.
2-You must decide whether or not it would oe
l
pay interest on it for this purpose.
| This last question cannot always be answered
satisfactorily because OF insufficient data because
| the accounts of the counties are so kept that it
is often difficult to get at the exact expenditures
| made to keep up repairs of roads under the old
system but we have sufficient data to indicate
that it is true economy to build permanent roads.
Take for example in On Anne's county o,
one stretch of road there. miles long the county
| spent s5tO each year for putting oyster shells;
an addition to this there were rpairs to the
| bridges and drainage and other repairs to be
attended to which brought total cost up to nearly
$1,000 per year The county applied to tue state
road fund for SlO0O and paid its share $500,
| permanent road which means permanent culyerts
drains and roadbed Now the repairs OF this ROAD
costs about so each year and the interest on the
| pootO i Ntetcu az per ceib ID 9l4o IudhlnB
| total expended on new road $3.50 year Instead Of
nearly so to say nothing OF economy t. teams
aud wagons
Wilkens Ave lie in Baltimore shows same
| results and we may conclude safely that on ma
| roads it is cheaper to build good road and hav.
| low maintenance charges than have cheap road
with high charges FIR annual repairs All over
| the country people are alive to this and much is
+, Ar.
| Massachusetts, has huilt 100 miles of road and
the towns of that State 200 more miles New
Jersey has built 1860 miles in the last ten years
and other States doing more or less in this le
md it seems to be great National movement
shall be glad answer any question any
| meniher would wish to ask me-
Mr.. Geo. Balderstou asked if Commis
siouers did not have power to prevent the
ruin of permanent roads by heavy wagons
with narrow tires He said it was most
| important question.
Mr. Crosby answered that Tire law
must follow road law He said there
was no state law at present. but that local
laws could be passed. The better the
construction of the road the longer it will
resist damage by narrow tires, but the
vest roads give way in time under such
abuse.
Mr. Alfred B McVey asked the average
cost each year for keeping in repair mile
If macadam road.
Mr. Crosby said that $40 to $3.50 per
mile would keep the road in good repair.
Mr. McVev then asked what was the
average cost of grading and draining
road
Mr. Crosby took the Akin Ave road a.
P@rryVille for an example and said thai
the cost of completed road was $57Io 81,
less than one half OF which sum vas pa,d
nv the county The putting OF the stone
cost $4388 II which makes the cost for
grading $3.50 SO
Mr. McVey SAID that he asked the
question because ten years ago the COUNTY
had made gravel road near his house
putting on heavy coating of gravel 81
cost of 500 per mile and that with
scarcely any repairs the road is still in
good order, and keeps in good condi,i
at all seasons of the year
Mr.. Crosby said thai Rising Sun rnad
cost $5s6I 90. Of which county paid less
than one-half aud the grading cost about
$1,000.
In the discussion that followed it was
pointed out that if it cost $1,000 to drain
and grade mile of road and it could bt
graveled for 500 per mile the cost would
he only $l7oo or less than half as much
as stone road, as average for stone road
is nearly $500 per mile. Mr. Crosby sa d
that when cost of the two was not much
different stone was the better of the two
to use The State consults with the com
mis'iouers of the county on all these
matters and gives advice and then al