The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950, 1910-05-01
HOW TO BUILD ROADS
Important Subject Is Ably Discussed By Practical Good Roads
Builder of Franklin County
BY J. G.AIssER
President of Franklin County Good Roads Association

As the road is type of civilized So
ciety." 1t becomes the duty of every
enlightened nation to solve the great
question of road construction and main
tenance to Its own satisfaction and good
The condition of the public roads in
the United States Is probably worse than
in any other civilized country in the
world. This condition is due largely to
the undeveoped condition of the coun-
try and to the allowing of local crcum-
stances to determine location, etc, and
the lack of knowledge on the part of
many road officials as to the primary
principles of road construction, result
ing in the injudicious use of millions Of
dollars of the public money annually.
Quoting an eminent authority: 1.-The In
creased cost of haulage actually done
from bad roads. The loss of perishable
products for want of access to market,
the failure to reach markets when prices
are good, and the failure to cultivate
products which would be marketable If
markets were always accessible, add
many millions to the tax of bad roads,
not to speak of the detrlment to social
communication, education and religion.
In fact, the movement for good roads
deeply concerns every commercial f1nan-
cial and social interest in the land. We
are handicapped in all the markets of
the world by an enormous waste OF Ia
boz In the primary transportation of our
products and manufactures, while our
home markets are restricted by difficult
tie. In rural distribution which not In
frequently clog all the channels of trans
portation, trade and finance
Permanently of Work
All the important roads In the United
States can be and probably will be mac
adnmzed or otherwise improved in the
not distant future. This expectation
should govern the present management
of roads everywhere no labor expense
should be expended upon them other
thar that which leads to their ultimate
as hard roads.
Many roads of this country were orig
inally laid out without any attention to
general topography, and in most cases
the settlers path from cabin to
cabin the pigs trail from his favorite
ut-producing trees to his wallow in the
mud and water of the swamps, or the
boundary line of farms regardless of
grades or direction. Most of them re-
main today where they were originally
located, and where untold labor. expense
ana energy have been wasted in trying
to haul over them and endeavor1ng to
improve their deplorable condition. 1t
is a great error to continue to follow
these. primitive paths with public high
ways. The proper thing to do is to call
in good road engineer and have the
location so changed as to throw the
roads around the ends or along the sides
of steep hills and ridges, instead of con-
to go over them, or In raising
the roads up on dry, solid ground, in
stead of splashing through mud and wa
ter of boys and creeks In the lowlands.
Best Location
If road goes over hill when 1t
might go around, the labor and expense
pu. upon it are absolutely wasted. and
the sooner its direction is changed the
better. If a road is not rounded up and
surface drained 1t should be, not only
for present use as an earth road but as
a preliminary to matchmaking
In laying out a road, straightness
should always be sacrificed to obtain
level surface Although
this is one of the most important princi-
pies connected with road building, 1t Is
one the most frequently violated There
Is no objection to an absolutely straight
road, but graceful and natural curves
conforming to the lay of the land add
beauty to the landscaue besides enhanc-
Ing the value of property.
The Grades
Good roads should wind around hills
instead of going over them, and in many
cases this would not Increase their
length. as 1t is no farther around some
hills than over them. Moreover, as
rule, the horizontal length of
road may be advantageously Increased to
avoid an ascent, by at least 20 times
the perpendicular height thus saved; for
instance, to escape hill 100 feet high
it would be better for the road to make
such a circuit as would increase Its
length 10000 feet. The reasons for this
are manifold, the principal one being
that a horse can pull only four-fifths as
much on a grade of two feet in hum
dred, and gradually less as the grade in
creases until with a grade of 10 feet In
a hundred he can draw but one-fourth
as much as he can on a level road.
As a chain Is no stronger than its
weakest link. just SO the greatest load
which can be hauled over road is the
load which can be hauled up the steepest
hill on that road. The cost of haulage
u.s. therefore, necessarily increased In
proportion to the grade, as it costs one
and one-half times as much over one
having a 10 per cent grade as on a level
road AS a perfectly level road can sell
dom be had, 1t is we'll to know the
steepest allowable grade. 1t the hill be
one of great length, 1t is best to have
tho lowest part steepest upon which the
horne IS capable of exerting his full
strength and to make the slope more
gentle toward the summit to correspond
with the continually decreasing strength
Of the fatigued animal.
Law Of Drainage
Inasmuch as all things are governed
BY natures law, we can only expect to
secure economy by strict observance
Of those principles which are in perfect
harmony with that law. Water will not
flow up hill; neither will 1t flow off into
bitches when there are no bitches made
for 1t to flow off into. On the contrary,
water flows in that direction where the
least resistance to the laws of gravity
exists; if that is down the middle of the
road, then you will find after each heavy
rain the tell-tale gully. Water. being
the greatest enemy of the road, should
flow freely off the surface This is ac
complished by preparing the bed so that
there may be a, fall from the center to
the sides of six inches, never exceeding
nine inches, on a road 80 feet wide; for a
road IS to 20 feet wide, from three to
four inches is enough. A ditch should
TO carry away easily and quickly all wa
ter from the road and Vicinity. These
bitches should have a continuous fall
throughout. their entire length, and their
size should depend upon the amount of
water they are expected to carry. Water
should never be allowed to-. flow across