The weekly register. [volume] (Point Pleasant, Va. [W. Va.]) 1862-1909, 1908-09-09
ROAD SYSTEM.
Administration and Construction
Of Worlds Best Highways.
RECORD OF ALL WORK KEPT

+ / II ~
Building Of Roads supervlsed BY tho
Government as Carefully ao Rail-
road Constructs Marked Al
tontion Paid TO Drainage.
Good roads are among the best assets
of any community, and the American
state which first secures them in
Systematic why WIN derive benefits
which 1t will never fully appreciate.
The Los Angeles highway commits!
sion recently addressed inquiries to
American Consul Skinner at Marseilles.
asking him about the laws and en-
gineering 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 hns the finest roads In the
world, both In physical form and rela-
ton to the national geography. The
French nation has spent more than
,1&0oOooOO0 on them to more than
100000. 900 spent by the local depart
,ments. 80
Down at the bottom of the French
road system Is the humble cantonniere,
Or toad foreman who has charge Of
ono TO three miles of road. He is to
the roads what tho section boss Is to a.
railroads organization. Up at the top
ID the School of Roads and Bridges, a
great technical college In which engl-
neering, construction and every detail
of road building Is taught Betweed
these two extremes the government
controls, manages, regulates every
thing, A record is kept OF every DIT
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 n
mail order house.
France does not hive 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 oil over the
United Stntes. 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.
But about the physical construction
of French road. To begin with,
French experience proves that deep.
solid foundations and fine surfaces are
not 30 important ms something else
commonly Notwithstanding. 1t Is
primary and ironclad principle of
French roadmaking that tho roadway
must receive no more than Its own.
natural infall. Everything else must
give way to this
"a standard ,Freiichf 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 drlftways. sloping away
from the surfaced road slightly. These
are used as footpatlis and must be
hard and hoavy enough to hold I'm place
the surfacIng material of the road
proper. Finally outside all this must
boz ditch on each side IL the conforma-
ton of the ground makes this neces-
sary for drainage.
They begin by digging out box"
In the earth.ttle width of the roadway
proper. twenty feet This Is carefully
convexed mt the bottom, SO that the
hard surfocmg materials shall be of
the same thickness throughout and
give, surface of,;eSactlys the right
curvature. This curvature Is from one.
f1ftieth to one-forticth of the width.
When the 'box" lns beenN carefully