Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1914-04-09

j quarters of the people who make ex-
! tended trips in Maine did not do so a
flew years ago. l have frequently stat
/ ed, and will state again that if peo-
/ pie who are so free in their criticism
| could have observed conditions as they
/ were five or ten years ago, they would
! certainly have to admit, if they were
/ candid and fair in their opinion, that
a great deal of good, common sense
improvement has been realized in the
matter of roads during the last few
| years.
have sometimes thought that in
our Talk about road improvements, We
were possibly concentrating too much
thought and attention upon our prin-
cipal lines of travel to the exclusion of
our other roads. 1t is fact however
which has been substantiated by a
careful census of the traffic taken in
various counties and towns that from
ten to twenty per cent Of the road
mileage in any community carries
from seventy-five to ninety per cent
of the traffic. With this thought in
mind practically every highway com
mission, be 1t town, county or state.
according to the unit of administra-
ton has recognized that unless their
efforts are concentrated upon the i'm
proVenent of the ten or twenty per
cent Of roads carrying the heaviest
traffic, that their expenditures of pub
lie funds will not result in the great
est good to the greatest number This
probably explains why the Legislature
Of Maine at its last session followed
the lead of so many other states where
road Improvement has been started
through the medium of state aid, and
passed a law which provides for the
expenditure of state funds on the prin-
cipal thoroughfares and the leading
market roads in the state.
You have heard discussed and seen
illustrated various types of construc-
ton and maintenance, especially APP
plica BILE to the ten to twenty per cent
Of roads which carry the bulk of traf-
fic. Not much has been said about
the other eighty or ninety per cent of
our public highways, most of which
are dirt roads, that is, roads con-
structed from the material immediate
" at hand.
These roads will probably for years
remain as dirt roads There is no rea-
son, however why these roads should
not receive thoughtful care and atten-
ton each year. AS matter of fact, for
some years to come, many miles of
our state and state aid highways will
be dirt roads and they will need the
same treatment that should be given
to all dirt roads. In my judgment
there are certain things which might be
done TO all of our roads which are not
now done and which if done would
result in very great Improvement in
their condition. l have believed for
long time. and my belief is stronger
+ today than ever before that it is pos
/ sible without increasing our road OK
/ penditures to make and to keep the
most of our roads in good passa BILE
/ condition from the fifteenth of April.
+ or the first of May, until the fall
rains come on and soften them up.
/ The proper way to take care of a dirt
! road is not to wait in the spring until
the frost has left the ground and the
road has settled and dried out and
! hardened before anything is done to
1t. If this is done we generally find
ruts anywhere from two to six inches
deep with the sides caked so hard
that n road machine with six horses
I attached is about the only implement
that will break down these hard
punches and ruts. You all realize
that it is impossible when the soil Is
in this condition to make it compact
and bond together.
The care of roads should start imme-
diately when the frost leaves the ground
, and probably the first thing to be done,
speaking in general, is to smooth the
roads with a split log drag or q road
machine; of the two | much prefer a
split log drag or similar implement. You
/ hnfnra ya N
the road with a heavy machine. The
cost of smoothing with a drag or other
similar implement will not be over a
quarter or a third of the cost of doing
similar work with the machine. and sup
posing after the first dragging we have
little rain and the roads rut an inch
or two deep, it is entirely possible and
exactly the right thing to do to make
another dragging within a few days or
Immediately after the rain to obliterate
and fill up these ruts. and not very great
expense has been entailed. 1t is just as
possible to do this dragging work on a
town road or on a side road rs ii is on
your state highway, or any of your state
aid roads. 1t you can only do one at a
time common sense would certainly say
to drag the state or state aid roads first
because they are your principal thor
oughfares The fact of the matter is
your town should be provided with
enough drags so that all of the roads
could be dragged within two or three
days. 1t doesn't cost much to build a
featured drag. For the price of one
road machine you could have drags
enough to cover all the roads in your
town You do not hesitate to spend a
couple of hundred dollars for road
machine when the old one is worn out
Why not spend some money for drags
which will do part of the work ordi-
narily done by the machine much better
and more economically.
A feature which is decidedly objec-
tionable to all classes of vehicles is the
| bump or jounce generally experienced
on each side of a bridge or culvert and
at railroad crossings. This is entirely
unnecessary, provided only that proper
attention is given to these places.
know it is difficult to join an embank-
ment with the floor of a bridge. or with
the plank at a railroad crossing. Some
times a mixture of clay and gravel is
made and deposited at such places. The
materials should be mixed and deposit
ed when they are wet. In putting a
patch in such n depression be careful
not to get the patch too high. if YOU do,
you will simply transfer the hole to
another place, and If such a patch is
made in a low place or depression in
the surface of the road and the filing
material is too high, two holes will re-
suit
AS just suggested. we occasionally
find in a considerable section of road
which is otherwise good few small de
pressions which win hold water. There
a nRDrAS a