The Washington times., 1917-03-03
NOT TIME YET FOR
DIRT ROAD TO PASS
Maryland Engineer Says I'M
mediate Abolition Is Eco
nomic Impossibility.
By HENRY G. SHIRLEY
rybiar Engineer of Maryland.

It will be many years before the
earth road will be in the mlnorlly'
and in many places 1t will neither
be economical nor will the ta~aoie
resources justify the construction OF
a higher type
The earth road has often been
maintained by the most ignorant
men. in fact. 1t has not been main
tanned at all. 1t has been generally
believed that it would take care Oh
itself. recurring no work except, per
hans. the cutting away OF oushes anu
nossibly shaping with a road ma
chine in the spring to give II better
drainage to the side bitches. 1 know
of no other type that has been SO
abused or has received the careless
and inefficient maintenance 10 Whlcn
the earth road has been subjected.
There is no type upon which SO mucn
money is being wasted as the earth
road, primarily through Ignorance
and neglect.
have seen instances where a SOFT
place existed in a hollow badly un-
derdrained. Year after year 4 large
amount of stone was hauled to this
place and dumped on 1t, where II ais
appeared by the close Of spring. New
ertheIess, this procedure would De
steadily adhered to every successive
year until the stone finally formed
compact mass. But the moisture In
tbe earth made a mudhole at each
end, and the same performance mao
to be repeated at each end the next
wear until a large quantity of stone
finally displaced the mud. This Is an
raod
Earth roads should be worked in
the early spring. II the roadbed is
rutted, in bad condition, and nat,
without the proper cross-section, 1t
should be plowed from gutter to gut
ter. shaped with a road machine until
IL has the proper cross-section, and
then kept constantly dragged until l.
is properly consolidated. After the
road has been given this attention,
then. with a little constant care, 1t
can be kept in good condition until
freezing and thawing are at hand,
when II is necessary to dig II up
again Just as soon as the frost leaves
the ground. :,
In maintaining earth roads we find
that after the road has been prop
erIy shaped, the bitches opened and
the road given the proper cross-sec-
tion, patrolman with q spht-ios
drag can keep from five 70 eight
miles in good condition for at least
ten months in the year. The patrol
man drags the road after each rain,
when the earth is in a moist and
damp condition, and thus the road is
kept smooth and has the proper
cross-section. A description OF the
method of making and using such a
drag can be obtained without charge
from the United States office of Pub
lkc Roads and Rural Engineering at
Washington.
When the road is dry and the sur
face is in good condition, the patrol
man spends his time in opening up
the cutters, filling any small washes
that may occur in the shoulders, and,
II there are any spots in the road
where the earth is soft and of such
nature that it will not bear the traf-
fic, he digs it out and replaces ii with
good material. In places where there
are wet spots, owing to the lack OF
proper underdrainage, the patrolman
digs them out and fills them with
stone or logs, making blind drains.
have found that by first putting down
layer of field stone, next placing
three logs so as to form a kind OF