Tensas gazette. [volume] (St. Joseph, La.) 1886-current, 1917-06-22

hand, the problem may be to fit the
road TO the contour of the country, re-
CARELESS of land lines, cultivated fields,
and all other considerations except
grade, drainage and line.
In general, the proper location and
design of road involves: Q) deter
mining its controlling points; that is,
fixing its general route with reference
to certain points which the road must
pass through. (2) surveying route
which passes through the controlling
points and is otherwise adapted to the
lay of the land, (3) study of the
drainage situation, (D preparing such
plans and drawings as are necessary
for proper construction and a COM
plete record.
Controlling Points.
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 ne
cessity for connecting up with certain
centers Of population, usually will
serve to fix the location of a road with
in fairly definite limits. For impOr-
tant roads these controlling points are
determined by careful inspection of all
possible routes.
The Survey.
The care which should be exercised
in making a road survey necessarily
must depend upon the Importance Of
the road and the amount TO be expend-
ed in its improvement. An ordinary
farm road, for example, usually re-
quires no survey other than lining it
by the eye between the controlling
points. Some unimpOrtant public roads
may require very little more than farm
roads in the way of a survey, but IL
any considerable amount of grading or
other work is to be done, either at the
time the road is located or later, the
survey should include all instrument
work necessary to insure that the work
will be done economically.
The purposes of a survey are Q) to
determine accurately the topography
or lay of the land so that the lOca-
ton may follow the route which pre-
sents the fewest obstacles, (2) to fit
the grade line to the ground surface so
as to keep down the amount of grading
necessary. (3) to balance cuts and fills
so that whatever grading is done will
be to the best possible advantage, (D
to line up the road and provide stakes
for controlling the work, (5) to obtain
data from which proper plans may be
prepared and an estimate of cost made,
| (6) to provide record that will pre-
vent subsequent contentious among
landowners regarding the original To-
cation of the road. While the impOr-
lance of all these purposes is apparent,
frequently 1t is not realized that they
cannot be accomplished except by
means of a careful survey, and that
such surveys can be made only by ex-
perienced men who have been trained
especially for such work. Farmers
and business men generally are in
clined to underestimate the amount of
skill required to make road survey
properly and their influence has been
responsible in the past for much bung-
ling and for uneconomical road work
for which they have had to pay in
heavy taxes.
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 a 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-
siderably.
\ 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
fll than in it's original position. The
customary allowances for shrinkage
and waste in road work are:
| Per cent
For heavy cuts and hlls.. 10 to Is