The Jasper news., 1917-05-31
EARTH, SAND-CLAY AND GRAVEL ROADS

as this may be done without decreas-
ing the usefulness Of the road or in
creasing its ultimate cost. The ten
dency in most rural communities Is to
locate all new roads along land lines,
regardless of the suitability of the
route, and this has been responsible
for much waste In the past. Not in
frequently roads located along land
lines have been graded at considerable
expense, and abandoned later when the
community demanded a more highly
improved road with better grades.
6. Give reasonable consideration to
the pleasing features of the location.
A large part of the travel on most
country roads Is for pleasure, and the
degree of pleasure experienced in driv-
ing Is largely dependent upon the
scenic attractiveness of the road.
The actual procedure of laying out
road should be controlled very large
ly by the lay of the land which the
road Is to traverse. Where the cOun
try Is comparatively level, for ex-
ample, practically the whole problem.
aside from proper drainage may be to
| determine reasonable balance be-
tween the desire to avoid unnecessary
damage to farming land and the pur-
pose to secure a reasonably direct
route over good ground.
One of the most common problems In
| laying out road in level country Is to
decide between continuing circuitous
route around cultivated fields or along
rectangular land lines, and establish
ing new diagonal route across the
| fields.
Such features of the locality as gaps
through ridges, exposure to the sun,
narrow stream crossings, and suitable
points for crossing railroads (prefera-
bly, by means of overhead bridges or
under passes), together with the me-
cessity for connecting up with certain
centers of population, usually will
serve to fix the location of road with
! In fairly definite limits. For impor-
tant roads these controlling points are
determined by careful inspection of all
possible routes.
The accompanying figure illustrates
an error which Is made sometimes by
inexperienced persons in grading a
road without first having surveyed and
planned the work. In this figure, which
Is an actual profile of an existing road,
the shaded line shows the original
ground surface, the heavy full line
shows the grade to which the road was
actually constructed, and the dotted
line shows grade line which, If 1t had
been followed, not only would have re-
quired no additional work, but would
have reduced the steep grade material
ly and thereby improved the road con-
slderably.
In fitting the grade line to the ground
surface and balancing cuts and fills 1t
should be borne in mind that earth.
after being thoroughly compacted, will
occupy less space in an embankment or
fill than in its original position. The
customary allowances for shrinkage
and waste in road work are:
Per cent.
For heavy cuts and fills. 10 to IL
For average grading .................15 to q
For light grading .:..................20 to 80
For very light grading and consld-
cradle sod ...........................30 to n
Solid rock will expand from one.
third to one-half Of its original volume
when taken from q cut or excavation
and placed In an embankment But
the spaces between the particles of
stone should be filled with earth as the
stone is being placed in the embank-