Harrisburg telegraph. [volume] (Harrisburg, Pa.) 1879-1948, 1914-03-11
FOSTER TELLS Of
OLD WORLD ROADS
Labor's Small Cost One Of the Big
Items in Favor Of Foreign
Building Method
FINE HIGHWAYS ABROAD
States Chief Road Engineer Talks
About the Construction in
Europe Today
FINE HIGHWAYS ABROAD

That the United States has little to
learn from Southern Europe and
Northern Africa about the science of
moderin roadbuilding. is the opinion
formed by S. d. Foster. chief engineer
of the State Highway Department.
who has just returned from a two
months vacation spent in Algiers,
Italy and the southern part of France,
where, Mr.. Foster believes. the great
est di u Guilty is in the fact that these
countries have been building roads for
so many years longer than has this
country, and have so many more hun
dreds of miles, that the general i'm
preston is borne upon the average
traveller that their roads are better.
From my own observation" Mr..
Foster added, II do not believe that
any of these countries are any further
advanced in the matter of permanent
surfacing than is the State of Penn
sylvania-" The difference in the cost
of labor and the availability of mate
rails on many of the foreign highways,
Mr.. Fosters says, allows the road
builder to give greater attention to
original construction.
Too Costly Here
L saw many interesting things in
road work on my trip" said Mr.. Foster
to-day in discussing the American and
foreign roads. They do things over
there that we cannot attempt in Amer
lea owing to prohibitive expense. I
recall one instance where l noticed a
road that crossed and recrossed
deep ravine up the side of a noun
tain for a distance of nearly a mile,
each of these crossings being solid
arch of masonry. Imagine the at
tempt to build a road of that descrip-(
tion in Pennsylvania under existing
conditions! In another place, where
the Italian government desired to con-
struct road along the side of noun
tain where the descent was nearly
sheer. the roadbuilders went twenty
or more feet into the surface and
Clipped out a niche on the side of the
mountain. On this place they erected
stone wall to height sufficient to
enable them to fill in back of the wall
and thus make the roadbed."
Asked what he considered the best
types of road that he had seen on his
trip, Mr.. Foster said that he thought
the Amalfi Drive, along the coast from
Salerno to Amalf, south of Naples,
and the road connecting Monte Carlo,
Mention and Nice in the province of
Monaco were two of the best.
As to Construction
In these two roads, as in most of
the highways 1 saw in Italy and south
ern France, great detail has been given
in the original construction as illus
trated in the permanent construction
and building of necessary walls and
drainage. In both these roads there
is a thorough patrol system and the
up-keep is borne by the government.
II understand that the roads in
southern France are representative
types of the construction farther
north in that county, and the French
do not seem to have solved the ques-
ton of permanent surfacing and con-
struction necessary to resist the enor-
nous automob bile traffic which their
highways are called upon to sustain.
Then, too, France is in the same con-
dition Pennsylvania confronts-she
has no money for road improvement.
"On the other hand, Italy is lib
eral spender as far as improved high
ways are concerned, and the public
utilities are well taken care Of. AS
an example let me cite one in particu-
far that 1 noticed on a piece of road
construction in Italy. The roller there
Is in charge of man who accompa-
nies it wherever it goes on the road,
living right by it. To do this they
have built a house on wheels-not
shack, you understanding real
with plenty of room to keep clothes
and sleep, and heated with stove
carried aboard. In this house lives
the roller-man, the superintendent in
charge of that particular piece of road
and the foreman. They literally ac-
company their woork, for every time
the roller moves the house is hitched
on and moves with it. Thus the men
most concerned are on the job really
Nv do do
the work.
Stone Easy to Get
Another thing which helps in road
construction in Italy Is that in the
majority of instances the material is
to be found along the road and thus
expensive haulage charges are done
away with. They use form of lime
stone for their roads and 1t seems to
be very satisfactory. or course the
Italian government is doing little in
the construction of new roads, most
of their highways in that country pe-
ing military roads built centuries ago
and to this day requiring but little re-
surfacing to put them in tiptop con-
dition.
"In Africa the French government
has built first-class roads through to
both Algeria and Tunis, connecting
all of the principal cities. There are
many places where location has been
sacrificed in order to get grade; this
was probably due to economy in the
original construction and the prepon-
derance of camel. mule and vehicu-
lar traffic over automobile travel on
surface of these roads. Near the large
cities they have treated their water
bound macadam roads with tar and
asphalt and in several instances have
used a cement concrete covered with
asphalt and tar Here again, as in
Italy, is manifested the permanency
of construction. which is the thing
that appealed to me the strongest
whatever they do. they do well, and
,i,,lr fc he