El Paso herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1901-1931, 1917-09-12
F. WORTH ROAD
EASY To BUILD
Highway Engineer
Reports in Detail on High
way From Here East.

. 81 els DIVISION OF the proposed tNlLE'
I kana-El Paso state highway. tina
. portion between Mineral Wells an,
/ Dallas previously having been in.
1 spected by George A. Duren. state
I highway engineer. In commenting
{ upon the present condition Of thi:
( road and improvements he recon-
I mended. Mr.. Duren said,
We found the highway in Fl PasC
county in excellent condition. Be
ginning at the New Mexico line north
: Of FL PasO. the highway is an excel
lent sample Of concrete road. IS feet
wide, running some 20 miles to Fl
Paso. where il Joins with wei paved
streets Of that city East of FL Pas0
the highway is in good condition and
is constructed. for the most Darr
understand. Of asphaltic macadam- Fl
PasO and FL PasO county have pro-
crossed wonderfully and have excel
lent paved ways and are now ready.
without any state or federal aid. for
the state TO connect up highway No. l
with their modern system Of high
ways.
The highway in Hudspeth county
has been recently improved by grad
inE. and construction OF pipe culverts
and wooden bridges. The road in
general parallels the Texas & Pa
clfic railway. but frequently II cuts
across country In order to avoid the
cetOurs made by the railway 10 Sc
cure easy grades. The road through
this county is in part surfaced with
rock gravel and calaiche.
In CulberSOn County.
The road through Culberson county
is roughly graded and traverses sec
Ions where road building materials
are abundant At Van Horn. the
county seat Of Culberson county. we
inspected the road running north to
orange. y NJ This road is "A star
route and on it federal aid can be
granted The east and west road is
typical Of a large portion Of the en-
tire line west OF Big Springs. in that
IT is not a post road. practically all
OF the post roads are roads running
at right angles TO this line leading
out from the railroad stations
The road running north from Van
Horn TO Orange, y NJ. crosses the
divide between Baylor and Sierra
DiablO mountains and descends again
into the Van Horn valley, west Of the
Delta mountains. Good bodybuilding
gravel is found in abundance over the
entire route within haul OF not TO
exceed two miles The principal diff
Guilty encountered viii be that Of
drainage There is little rainfall. but
clOudbursts are frequent and the
water viii descend over extensive
slopes Of the mountain in such a way
that 1t is exceedingly difficult TO pre-
---N'-- VA q -Aa+A Al lAAA
this cause
sand in Ward County.
The road across Reeves county is
IN good shape and can be put in first
class condition at small expense for
surfacing and at a not great expense
for bridges and culverts.
Ward county is sandy. but a suffi-
cient amount of clay is mixed with
it 10 furnish fairly good subgrade
near the FecOs river but il gradually
becomes more sandy toward the east
20 ABOUT Pyote- From there TO Arovo
sand IS not deep and good subgrade
may De secured by removing surface
sand down 10 the hard pan. Just east
lr Arroyo the Mouahans sands begin. /
io that all highway traffic has here &
.Ofore stopped
Between MOnohans and a point Just
east OF Judkins, in Ector county. there /
IRE impossible sands where one sand 7
June follows another in peaks and 4
ridges like the waves OF the sea. The
Texas q Pacific railway has main /
aimed track through this area Of
sand by surfacing the railway en-
lankmeut with cinders. caliche and /
1ther materials not affected by the
winds
To construct a permanent highway
these sands il viii be neces-
AIRY 10 establish a subgrade by ex-
AVIATION through the dunes and max
ng sand III across holes made by the
Flnd, using fiat easy slopes to the
ides Of excavations and embank-
lents, on which slopes caliche. which
s TO be had in abundance near Mona
ans and Judkins. viii be spread.
Covering The sand.
As temporary measure. prior 10
preading caliche, the sand nav he
ED in place by the use Of shinnerv
rease wood and bushes or small
-eed-HEe growth Of oak sprouts.
1und abundantly in this area. CaIiche
ill be used in thick layer or about \
en- inches thick for width Of IS feet
carry traffic. Instead Of caliche.
clay can be secured at a low cost
may be used in surfacing the stones
nd IN the lower course Of the road
lrfacinE
About six miles Of the 20 miles oil
be sands Just referred to is i'm EctorI
ounty, after leaving which the road
usually a good road for automo-i
Hes. but somewhat sandy in suors
here is some gravel available. but
llche will probably have to be used
1r surfacing.
Through Midland and Martin cour-
es, and, in fact. throughout this
ighway west Of Sweetwater. automo-
lie roads are separated from wagon
PADS the wagon roads being graded ,
Dads that become bad in wet weather
ne automobile roads traverse pag-
Tres and at fence lines cross cattle
yards The road is across undfs-
irbed ground and consists merely ofI
ide, shallow ruts made nv aufo-,o- {
lie wheels. and they are maintained :
y dragging or LEFT entirely undis- !
irbed.
The road is better graded through =
u Howard county and for the most :
1T 1T surfaced with good gravel. 7
men IS found at various points 7
The road through Mitchell county i.
u the most part is Of a sand-cIavI r
The road through Nolan county is I
-aoed, but in need OF extensive i'm !
-Ovement.
Road Surfaced With OIL.
The road through Taylor county
lrOughout most Of its length is a fireI
-avel road. part Of which has ben ~
irfaced with an asphaltic oil with 7
1cellent results Judge E ". Over -
liner informed me that as a MAIN y
nance measure Taylor county isI =
'eparing TO treat most OF its princi- lSl
IL gravel highways IN this manner. -
a. although the work heretofore n
me was made with an asphaltfc OH -
more than IS percent. that thev are u
for convenience in +
lplcation the use Of a SIS percent A
oil. y
From Abilene we went to Albany ii
'er a road passing through LARGE ~
.stures and not improved. However- a
e county is now at work fencing the =
ghtofWav and grading the road toI -
bany. They have recently voted a
eds. n
Road Work Needed.
Inc road across Stephens county "a