Oxford Democrat. [volume] (Paris, Me.) 1833-1933, 1915-05-04
The Little Things in Roads.

I'LL tue Course VI "iitbCh iva
the Franklin Journal, Chief Engineer
Sargent of the Maine Highway Commits
sion has this to say:
IL / were to attempt to convey any special
message relative TO the road situation In this
connection Il would be, then. that the municipal
officers OF each town paw particular attention al
the present time TO the little things In connection
with roai maintenance which. II neglected, VIII
convey the impression that the roads are poor,
aud II att nded to. will give the impression, gen
orally speaking, that the roads are good
A few OF these n tie things being, rocks raked
out of the roads; filing small Expressions anu
ruts before they are large ones; having water
courses and culverts kept open and clear OF
refuse; maintaining the crown OF the road
keeping true surface lengthwise OF the road
over culyerts.
Each OF the above enumerated items OF road
work are 40 small that they hardly need discus
sion, but IL Is probable that they are overlooked
many times on account of their simplicity. The
road commissioner or whoever has charge or the
work thinking 10 Is such small matter that he
will let IL 90 until some future date, ana matters
which are disposed OF In this way are usually
never attended 20.
II will occnr to almost any thoughtful reader
that any OF the above Items cOuld be handled at
a very slight expense. Probably the best meth
OF of all for handling road repairs would be to
put a good road man Ia charge of six, eight or
Ten miles OF road with Instructions to attend TO
all these little matters By patrolling some section
OF the road each day and constantly mending
small defects.
The writer, while not the operator OF
an automobile, has had considerable OPP
portunity to note the difference which
few little defects in the road make in its
apparent general condition, especially to
the automobile driver. This may Of
course be observed by any one, but il,
was particularly noticeable in taking two
or three trips over a twenty mile route
with an automobile owner who was at
that period doubling over the road daily.
While in reality much the larger part
of the road was in good condition foi
an earth road in a rural district-which
was all that most of the road is or ever
will be-there were a number of places
In it for which tue driver had learned to
watch aud where he had to slow down
and proceed with care. Here was a
culvert which was son top of the road,
and not being graded properly at the
sides, made a sharp hump. There Was
rock which stuck up in the wheel
track, and the driver had to turn out and
"straddlen il. At intervals were hOl
lows in the road surface, which held the
water after rain, each of which could
have been filled with a wheelbarrow load
or two of earth, but which were all the
time digging deeper, and every one of
which would give car running at fair
road speed "yank" as it went through.
A road patrolman with a team aud
few small tools, going over that twenty
mile route, could in two days time have
repaired about all of those minor defects,
and incidentally raked out lot of small
stones and done other work OF an i'm
proving character, so that il would have
been possible to drive over the whole
route at fair road speed without having
to slacken at all, and a stranger, going
over the road for the first time, would
have got the impression that for rural
road that stretch was in very good con-
dtion. As IL stood, the man who travel
cd the road daily, knowing where the
bad places were, could take advantage OF
his knowledge, but q stranger running
into them without warning would Ger
tainly not have given the road a recon-
mendation as first class. Aud this be-
cause the road had been treated on the
"fix and forget" principle, and the "little
things" which are SO big had been ig-
nored.
After all is said aud done, without any
objection to the good features of we'll
built trunk lines and main thorough
fares, of more or less costly construction,
Maine's road problem which is Of the
deepest interest To the greatest number
of people is the problem Of earth roads
And the problem of earth roads is more
problem of care of little things than of
costly construction or big undertakings.
Since the above was written, at the
meeting of the governor and council on
Wednesday, when the apportionment of
road money for this year was made,
Chairman Lyman III. Nelson OF the state
highway commission, in the course of
his remarks said the following, which
voices a correct principle regarding the
manner in which our road expenditure
will do the greatest good to the greatest
number:
Furthermore, believe that the expenditures so
far as made, have been az too grea. an average
rate per mile. What the state of Maine needs
more for development OF the highway system, Is
to improve It's roads In q moderate and reason
able way. making them first safe for travel and
doing this In the most economical manner con-
sistent with substantial work. and then K ep this
Improvement up by a constant sy stem of patrol
maintenance. The State Of Maine cannot AT
ford at the present time To expend $500 to
10000 per mile upon Its roads. The average ex.
penditure should be very much less than this
and firmly believe that q less expenditure can
be thoroughly practical, and distribute the
benefits of this bond money TO a much greater
part OF the population of the state, than will be
done under the present method OF construction.
So strongly does Mr.. Nelson feel his
position in this matter, that since the
remarks quoted above were made, he
has resigned as chairman Of the COM
mission, saying that he is out of bar
mony with the majority Of the commits
sion in the policy to be pursued.