The Harrison times. (Harrison, Boone Co., Ark) 1876-1938, 1908-03-28
FRENCH ROAD SYSTEM
Administration and Construction
of Worlds Best Highways.
RECORD OF ALL WORK KEPT
Building of Roads Supervised by the
Government as Carefully as a Rail
road Constructs Traeks-Marked At
tsntlon Paid to Drainage.

road Constructs Tracks-Marked At
tsntion Paid to Drainage.
Good roads are among the best assets
Of any community. and the American
state which first secures them In a
systematic way will derive benefits
which 1t will never fully appreciate.
The Los Angeles highway commits
sion recently addressed inquiries to
American Consul Skinner at Marseiles.
asking him about the laws and en-
cheering methods In France Consul
Skinner Investigated and has published
a most interesting explanation of the
subject, from which the following ex-
tracts were made:
France has the finest roads In the
world, both In physical form and rela-
ton to the national geography. The
French nation has spent more than
| 400000,000 on them to more than
5000, 100000 spent by the local depart
ments.
Down at the bottom of the French
| y,
or road foreman, who has charge Of
one to three miles of road. He Is to
| the roads what the section boss Is to a
| railroads organization. Up at the top
| Is the School of Roads and Bridges, 4
great technical college In which engl-
neering, construction and every detail
of road building Is taught. Between
these two extremes the government
| controls, manages, regulates every
thing. A record Is kept of every bit
of road In the country. what 1t cost.
who built It and how, the expenses for
maintenance and rebuilding every
thing In Its history is carefully record
ed. Frances highway system is card
indexed like the list of patrons of
mail order house.
France does not have the best roads
because 1t has special skill in making
them. An English engineer designed
the scheme. No more so because 1t
has especially large or unusually ex-
cellent supplies Of materials. The same
materials can be found all over the
United States. French roads are per-
feet because the road laws are near
perfection. because the road business
Is profession and not n job and be-
cause the men who make themselves
proficient are certain OF special recog-
milton.
But about the physical construction
Of French road. To begin with,
French experience proves that deep.
solid foundations and fine surfaces are
not so important as something else
commonly Notwithstanding. 1t Is
primary and ironclad principle of
French roadmaking that the roadway
must receive no more than its own
natural infall. Everything else must
give way to this.
A standard French national road Is
forty-slx feet wide. In the middle Is
the road proper, twenty feet wide
Outside this. thirteen feet wide on
either side, are drlftways, sloplng away
from the surfaced road slightly. These
are used as footpaths and must be
hard and heavy enough to hold in place
the Fprfaclng material of the road
pr Finally outside all this must
be : :, on each side II the conforma-
ton ols the ground makes this neces.
sary for drainage.
They begin by digging out a "box"
In the earth the width Of the roadway
proper, twenty feet This is carefully
convexed at the bottom, so that the
bard surfaclng materials shall be Of
the same thickness throughout and
give a surface Of exactly the right
curvature. This curvature is from one
iftieth to one-fortleth OF the width.
When the box" has been carefully
prepared the bottom and sides are Wig.
orousiy "tamped" to assure that they
will DO hard enough to hold the solid
materials firmly. Then II Is ready for
the crushed stone, etc, to be put In.
Every bit OF crushed stone must pass
through two and one-third inch
screen. Eight Inches OF this crushed
material Is deposited IN the 9oE. and
then II is rolled with six ton roller.
While the rolling IL coins on large
amounts Of water are constantly sprin-
killed. on the surface. AT thu same tipf''
mixture Of sandy and argllleSVS k2
materials equal In volume :, % -,