The Owosso times. (Owosso, Mich.) 1897-1926, 1916-12-15

Hhere are some suggestions on the
Here are some suggesitnOs on the
pertinent or impertinent, depending
on how you look at it. They are such
thoughts as have come to the writer
in his auto trips of the summer, ex-
tending over about 5000 miles.
The most serious need of the pres
ent time is a road law which will pre-
vent the waste of work on undrained
road beds, the use of worthless ma
terial, faulty construction methods,
and gross negligence in keeping roads
in repair.
AS we Travelled around the country,
we saw not few places where good
grade of gravel was dumped into a
mud hole. No provision whatever was
made for draining off the water which
filled this hole and stood on both sides
Of the road after every rain, thus
keeping the road bed soft, so that
every passing vehicle would cut
through, mixing the gravel and mud
until you could not tell what was
gravel and what was mud. Indeed
you do not have to 60 outside of the
limits of the village of Ithaca to see
instances of this kind Of road con-
struction. 1t is an utter waste of
time, money and material.
Tho Hrcf ,-apu,c;to nf ,,oaI anAef,,,o
tion is a ROAD BED, thoroughly
drained. To put gravel on any other
foundation is reckless waste. In trav-
cling through nineteen counties Of the
lower peninsula, the writer has been
impressed with the idea that in the
main the material used is of fair quail
ity, but even in the same township
it is far from uniform, and in some
instances is so full of sand and clay
as to be worthless.
. About the most useless and mex
cusable thing is faulty construction
/ methods. Some townships in Gratiot
| county habitually commit these blund-
ers. They built road bed, let it lie
season or so. 1t may be pretty fair
when it is built, well drained, smooth,
even, fairly hard, sufficiently crown
ing, etc, but after lying uncared for
for several months, mud holes form,
it becomes rutted and rough. What
do you thing of a highway commits
sioner, who, without thoroughly re-
pairing such road bed, putting it in
first class condition and rebuilding
the retaining walls, proceeds to dump
on gravelq "Dump on" the word,
too, for any officer so incompetent and
wasteful as to gravel SUCH a road
bed, will literally dump" the gravel
on, a load in a place. 1t is never
properly spread, but just left where
it is dumped, tramped down, driven
over and left in such shape that an
auto will begin to vibrate the moment
1T strikes such a road and vibrate
more and more until spring or axel
gives way. We have all driven over
such roads. They are really charac-
tcristic of some townships, not in Gra-
tiot county ALONE, we have them
everywhere, that roads are built. They
are here and everywhere, the work of
careless and incompetent road officers
who leave the unmistakable marks Of
their unftness wherever they 60.
Down on the WILLIAMSON road, to-
ward Detroit, we saw some of the fin-
est specimens of road grading and
gravel spreading we have ever seen
anywhere. 1t was as smooth and well
graded as railroad bed, while every
load of gravel was spread with abso-
lutte evenness. A man was kept on the
road for days going constantly over
every foot of road daily, filling even
the slightest depressions and ensur-
ink PERFECT SURFACE DRAIN
AGE.
This brings us to our last point
ROAD REPAIR. 1t is hard to write
of this point with any degree of pa
tiencc. This year we build a fine
gravel road, with sixteen foot road
bed. 1t is a splendid piece of work
and is soon known far and near as a
credit to the township and its road
officers.
Then for WHOLE YEAR, neither
highway commissioner nor an over
seer goes near IL. No one lifts n 6n0-
er to do thing.
A little depression appears. Rain
fills it with muddy water. Wagons
with narrow tires run through it and
cut down deeper into it. An auto
sweeps through it at a rapid speed
and the water, and mud are thrown
ont. The. Wagons chnck into it and
soon it gets deeper. Water stands in