Ellsworth American. [volume] (Ellsworth, Me.) 1855-current, 1914-09-23
DRAINING EARTH ROADS.
Poor Drainage ls Prevailing Defect
That Should Be Remedied.

That Should Be Remedied.
The Importance of earth roads, ac-
eording to bulletin of the United
States department of agriculture, is in
Heated by the fact that of the approx
mate mileage of 100000 in the United
States, 100000 miles are classed as
earth roads.
The prevailing defect in earth roads
Is poor drainage, and this defect is the
first one which should be remedied.
Improved drainage will do more than
any other thing for road betterment.
Drainage is for two purposes-frst, to
remove water which reaches the sur
face of the road by precipitation or 9TH
erwise and, second, to remove under
ground water which reaches the road
from adjacent land or through the top
surface Surface drainage is accom-
plished by securing reasonably firm
crowned Travelled roadway and by pro-
viding broad, shallow bitches Of good
alignment and uniform grades and
with ample outlets.
Subdrainage to remove water from
beneath the road surface or to prevent
Its presence In the roadbed is accom-
plished most effectively by so called
blind drainage, or French drains, or
subside drains. The best side drains
consist Of trench three and one-half
feet deep, fifteen inches wide at the
top. In which is laid an open bell joint
glazed tile from four to six inches in
diameter, with the bells uphill and the
trench back filed with broken stone or
coarse gravel. The main purpose of
these drains is to intercept ground
water. The joints Of the pipes should
be left open. and the drains should lead
into proper outlet SO that the water
may go entirely away from the road.
One such drain upon the uphill side Of
a road will frequently remedy the
worst conditions due to the presence Of
water.
To dispose Of water collected by this
drain trench should be dug about
every fifty feet and back filed with
stone. These trenches should lead en-
ttrely away from the road, so 1t is cas-
lily seen that this construction is main.
ly available for roads located either
over fills or Doggy land or on side hills,
where the outlets will, Of course be on
the downhill side only. This form Of
subdrainage should not be undertaken
without proper lines and grades fur
nished by an engineer, as 1t is expen-
sive, and If properly put In would con-
stitute sufficient drainage for any sub
of hn NV
matchmaking or otherwise. In turn
ing to the matter of surface drainage,
the earth road should be kept free
from rocks by the use Of the road drag
or otherwise and crown Of one inch
to the running foot should be pre-
served. Water Is thus shed toward
the sides.
The side bitches are to collect sur
face water and must be kept free. On
heavy grades they will tend to wash
and may require paving In the worst
cases. The wash may usually be pre-
vented by providing sufficient outlets
to reduce the volume Of water. A CON-
mon defect in earth roads is to find
that no provision is made for the side
drains to discharge water away from
the roads, and this item should be the
first concern of the road man.
When 1t becomes necessary that
drainage water cross the roads ample
culverts must be provided. The worst
fault common to culverts is that they
rapidly become clogged with leaves or
other rubbish. They should, therefore,
be Of more than sufficient size In the
first instance. When less than two
feet in diameter tiled pipe should be
covered with at least eighteen inches
of compacted soil; otherwise it is liable
to become broken. The prevalent de-
feet Of earth road construction in the
matter Of culverts is that they are too
small and too near the surface. 1t will
pay even In earth road construction to
install more expensive culverts In the
first instance than to rip them up for