Bryan daily eagle and pilot. [volume] (Bryan, Tex.) 1909-1918, 1911-05-09
INTERESTED N PAVED ROAD
FROM REQ RIVER TO GULF
HARRIS COUNTY COMMISSION
Frs AND GOOD ROADS
ENTHUSIASTS.
County Judge Amerman Authorizes
Statement That County Is Will
Ing to Do lite Part.

A Houston special to the Galveston
News says:
Members OF the county commission
of Harris county and all of the other
local good roads enthusiasts are much
interested in the report from North
Texas to the effect that a movement
is under way to secure a paved road
from Red river to the Gulf Of Mexico.
They believe that a little agitation is
all that will be necessary to induce
the citizens Of the counties along the
proposed highway TO extend their pres
ent systems Of good roads to their
county lines to connect with the roads
of adjoining counties and thus provide
the desired continuous ~thoroughfare.
AS the county commits ioners of
Harris county understand it, almost
every county between Dallas and Gal
weston has at least the beginning of a
system of good roads. Generally these
for short distances, and 1t is the local
opinion that the expense OF extending
them to the county lines would be so
small in proportion to the benefits that
would accrue from such extensions
that the citizens of all of the counties
along the proposed route would gladly
authorize the expenditure.
County Judge A. e. Amerman, of
Harris county, has authorized the
News to state that although this coun-
ty will be called upon to pay for sixty
miles of the proposed paved highway,
every mile of 1t will be ready for pub
lie use before the end of this year.
Sixty miles is considerably more than
any other county along the proposed
route will be called upon to pave, but
Judge Amerman believes that every
county should do its part regardless
of the distance.
As a matter of fact fifty-seven miles
of the Harris county portion of the
Red river-gulf paved highway has al
ready been completed and to finish the
road only three additional miles of
road must be surfaced. The route in
Harris county runs from Waller, on
the northern edge of the county, to
Webster, On the southern edge, and
the road is paved to within three miles
of Waller. R~adiating from Houston
are 300 miles Of paved roads, the coun-
ty line being touched at several points.
Every road is paved with either shell
or gravel with a shell surface.
The Galveston county portion of the
road from League City, across Clear
creek from Webster. the southern ter
minus of the Harris county road, to
Virginia Point is as good as completed.
II will be a fine shell road. At Waller,
on the line of Harris and Waller coun
ties, the Waller county portion of the
road will begin. The county commits
of Waller county have recent
ly achieved considerable success on
the sandy roads of that county around
Hampstead with clay-surfaced roads
and very probably If the citizens OF
Waller county take to the idea Of hav-
ing a continuous paved t~horoughfare
through their county some kind of
clay mixture will be used for sur
Clay for road ~surfacing is, in fact,
attracting some attention in Harris
county at the present time. The Clin-
ton road is at present being repaired
and pure clay is being mixed with
shell and used as the new ~surfacing
material. The clay is being used as a
sort Of binder and it is believed by
road experts that it will solve the
problem of getting durability out of
shell.
There has been n great drawback
to the free use of shell, and that is It's
short life as a s~urfacing material. II
badly under the wheels of We
hicles and the dust is blown away,
quickly injuring the road. Particular
ly does it respond to the suction Gre
ated by the passage of rubber auto
tires. The belief is expressed that with
clay as a binder the surface will pack
into a very hard mass, which will not
cut up or grind as shell alone does.
The theory is advanced that a clay
shell combination is proper proper
lions will last three times as long as
the ordinary shell road.
If this proves correct a most impor-
tant fact will have been established,
as it will open the way for much
cheaper roads of longer life. Clay is
to be found in abundance in this Sec
ton of the county. AS a general thing
the land of the coast country contains
a clay subsoil and may be obtained in
any quantity by s~craping off two or
three feet of the top soil.