Montgomery County sentinel. [volume] (Rockville, Md.) 1855-1974, 1909-04-23
STATE ROADS.

State Senator Lee has continued his effor
to lay before the State Roads Commission
the facts bearing upon the alleged imper.
fections in the engineering of Geological
Survey roads Shoemaker roads) made in
this county In letter dated April 18th
there was laid before the commission a
blue print giving the result of number OF
cross sections measured on miles Of Sur
vey roads, by Mr.. Lee and an engineer.
These cross sections tend to show to the
State Roads Commission what has been
apparent to the people in this county for
some time past, that the Survey roads are
put in too low and that the cutters on the
| side afford little or no drainage. The mea-
| Sured cross sections sent to the commission
| show that the theoretical water level or
level of undrained earth runs through the
macadam, in some instances very near the
| top OF the macadam. and in all cross sec
tons above the base of the macadam.
Further objection is entered as to unneces-
| sary cutting done on the Survey roads,
tending to lose natural fall or drainage and
locate beds of the roads in cuts in such
wise as to make it difficult to get the water
away from the road bed
These criticisms are more directly against
defects in two miles of road near Silver
Spring, one mile of Bradley Lane and one
mile near Bethesda. These last two miles
have cost the county $4,000 and ST., 900,
respectively and are not finished yet.
Mr. Lee concludes his letter as follows
Cut No. Z, portion of the Rockville, or
Bethesda, road indicates in special way
the indifference to Geological conditions
which the Geological Survey plans show.
You will observe the upper ditch on this
cross section is 8 ~ inches Deep this is
only 3 1-2 inches below the crown of the
macadam. Within few feet of the mac
adam of the lower side of this section
there is standing water in a marsh and
this standing water is Is 1-2 inches below
the crown of the macadam. The standing
water, however, is A feet further from the
the center of the road than is indicated in
the cross section. This Bethesda mile is
one that has cost the county 1000, ST.
900 being recovered by way of judgment.
the remainder expended under the Survey
The road is far from complete and it is
thought it will cost several thousand more
to complete it. If giving adequate drain
age to make it stable is added to necessary
stone work, there will be a considerable
additional expense. II the lines of this
Bethesda road, as it now exists. are prac-
tically the lines indicated in the plans of
the Geological Survey, in my Judgment it
tractor to have made stable road under
the specifications of the Geological Survey.
Generally speaking, the same statement
will apply to both the Bradley Lane and the
first mile of the Blair Road The Bradley
Lane road cost $4,000 and has not yet
been accepted. This low lying mile of the
Bethesda road is probably one of the first
Geological Survey roads made in Mont
gomery county. If there had been no geo
logical information at hand to show how
to build that mile. yet, after the experience
of building it, notifications should have
been made in the designs of the subsequent
miles of Survey road in Montgomery c0un-
ty. Unfortunately no such notifications
appear to have been made. The Bradley
Lane mile, in the same immediate neigh
borhood is as badly designed as the Be
thesda mile, and the above errors indicated
in the third mile of the Blair road, now
in active construction, show the same en-
cheering defects. These miles of roads.
where this alleged bad work has been done
and is being done, can be very easily
shown to your honorable commission, and
in the interest of the State am willing to
show them to you. They are all located
within 8 or 8 miles of Washington city and
can be readily reached by you"
No communication has been received by
the County Commissioners as yet from the
State Roads Commission in official response
to the suggested tender of the turnpikes
in this county. In this connection Senator
Lee, who was in Rockville Tuesday, said
he did not understand why in the news
paper publication of State roads for Mont
gOmery county the turnpike was put first,
as this turnpike has not yet been acquired
| by the county and all action on the subject
| unnc IannnH n
before any title can be secured for the
Union turnpike, to turn il over to the
| State Commission. This will naturally re-
qure some time and il would hardly seem
| appropriate to defer the work on other
roads where title is ready and good Will
| ingness to accept the Union turnpike by
| the Good Roads Commission, and unwill-
| ingness as to the Colesville pike, puts a
new phase on the pike proposition, and it
is not known what the taxpayers of the
districts who have TO stand for the bond
issue will do under the circumstances. Inn
provement from Rockville to NOrbeck may
also wait upon the taxpayers wishes with
reference to the Union turnpike.
A recent editorial of the Baltimore Sun
comes round to the opinion that new State
roads should not cost, in county like
Montgomery. over $4,000 mile. This is
proposition that has been strongly favor
ed from Montgomery county. as without
the adoption Of such policies by the Goods
Roads Commission the Montgomery county
| mileage and the mileage of all counties
will he cut in two. Five thousand dollars
n mile should give this county over 35
miles of new roads besides small sum to
improve the turnpike gradually by way Of
better maintenance IL the vote of the tax
payers in those particular districts is to ac-
auire it and turn it over.