Corvallis gazette. [volume] (Corvallis, Benton County, Or.) 1900-1909, 1908-03-10
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 Rail
road Constructs Tracks-Marked.A At
tantjon Paid to Drainage.


tention Paid to Drainage.
Good roads are among the best assets
of any community. and the American
state which first secures them in
systematic way will derive benefits
which it will never fully appreciate
The Los Angeles highway commits
Sion recently addressed inquiries 10
American Consul Skinner at Marseilles.
asking him about the laws and en-
vineering methods in France. Consul
Skinner investigated and has published
q most interesting explanation or the
subject, from which the following eA-
tracts We're 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 thah
S4OO, ZOO, 600 on them to more than
S2OO,OO0,O0O spent by the local depart
ments.
Down at the bottom of the trench
road system is the humble cantonnlefe,
or road foreman, who has charge OF
one to three miles of road. He Is TO
the roads what the section boss is to d
railroads organization. Up at the TOP
Is the School of Roads and Bridges,
great technical college in which engl
neering, construction and every detali
of road building is taught. between
these two extremes the government
controls, manages, regulates every
thing. A record is kept of every bit
to @hn what If c0St
who built it and how, the expenses for
maintenance and rebuilding - every
thing in It's 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 it 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 a profession and not job and be-
cause the men who make themselves
proficient are certain of special recog
milton. j
But about the physical construction
Of a French road. To begin with,
French experience proves that deep,
solid foundations and fine surfaces are
not so important as something else
commonly verlooked-drainage 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-six feet wide. In the middle is
the road proper, twenty feet wide
Outside this, thirteen feet wide on
either side, are driftways, sloping away
from the surfaced road slightly. These
are used as footpaths and must be
hard and heavy enough to hold in place
the surfacing material of the roao
proper. Finally outside all this mus
be ditch on each side if the conforma
ton of the ground makes this neces
sary for drainage.
They begin by digging out "box'
in the earth the width of the roadWa.
proper, twenty feet. This is CAREFUL!
conveXed at the bottom, so that th
hard surfacing materials shall be
the same thickness throughout ant
give a surface of exactly the rlgh
curvature. This curvature is from one
fiftieth to one-fortieth of the width
When the box" has been CAREFUL.
prepared the bottom and sides are Wig
orously "tamped'' to assure that the
will be hard enough to hold the soll
materials firmly. Then it is ready TO
the crushed stone, etc, to be put In.
Every bit of crushed stone must pas
through two and one-third inc
screen. Eight inches of this crushe
material is deposited in the box, an
then it is rolled with six ton rolle
While the rolling is going on lars
amounts of water are constantly sprll
kled on the surface. AT the same tim
mixture of sandy and argillaceou
materials equal in volume to 10 pc
cent of the amount of crushed ston
used is sprinkled slowly on the surfac
along with the water and very event.
and the whole is rolled down until I'll
tire of a loaded wagon will make L
track Then the road is finished say
for the requirement that it must se'
son for fifteen days before being opel
ed to traffic. This is description {
a crushed stone surface. Where oth'
materials must be used they are pr
vided for in the French scheme-bur
ed clay, gravel. etc. There is a pla
for every material and every region.
When the road is built the canto
Mere tramps up and down it and keel
it in repair, fills ruts with broke
stone, clears the bitches, etc. Abo'
= the cantonniere is foreman in chars
of a larger section, above him an e
gineering superintendent, and so
up to the inspector general of hig
ways and bridges, who is head of t
fl,,- Hho ENNn