Harrisburg telegraph. [volume] (Harrisburg, Pa.) 1879-1948, 1918-05-18
American Built Military
Roads to Endure

When the history of this war has
been written" says d. o. Skinner, In
ternational Motor Company, sit will
be more fully realized what a vital
part good roads have played in the
great struggle. At the start motor
trucks leaped to the front as the
modern pacemaker of flexible trans
portation and ever-increasing war
needs have demanded new roads and
better roads as most necessary for
the proper backing up of lighting
forces.
'Motortrucks by the thousands will
contribute an enormous advantage to
United States road engineers en-
gagged in. new construction back of
our lines. 1t is estimated that 1,2O0
miles of highways will be built in
1918 by American road engineers in
the rear of the fringline in France.
To the special road building battal-
ions is delegated the important task
of keeping lines of communication
constantly open, and Mack trucks
working in conjunction with modern
American road machinery VIII help
to build new strategic lines and keep
communicating roads in constant
repair. The Mack fleet will be COM
posed of several thousand dump
trucks, hot road oilers, pressure
sprinklers for making waterbound
macadam. gasoline tank trucks
printing press trucks for printing
blueprints, instructions, plans, re-
ports. etc, machineshop. trucks,
blacksmith and tool-repairing trucks
Although France is particularly
well endowed with good roads, it is
often necessary for military reasons
to construct many new lines. An
estimate places the present mileage
of French. roads at one mile of road
for each one and one-half square
miles of ground surface. The tre-
mendous task of keeping these roads
in perfect condition and building new
ones at the same time can well be
imagined when it is realized that so
far as wear and tear are concerned
war traffic is ten times as great as
that on Fifth avenue, New York.
Most of the roads of France are
built of waterbound macadam. The
peculiar nature of the French soil,
which is of limestone formation,
lends itself readily to compaction un-
der the roadroller and makes "a very
good road building material, although
1T requires constant maintenance.
The British, however, introduced the
tarred surface road and an increas-
ing mileage of that type is found
back of the British lines. One of the
principal objections to the water
bound macadam road near the front
is the dust, which rises from it in
dry weather under heavy war traf-
fic. Clouds of dust draw artillery
fire from the enemy. and for this
reason United States engineers in
planning road construction and main
tenance near the American front will
probably utilize large quantities of
tar coating, which is freely obtain
able in France.
"Of course, the pressing object of
American road construction is to
provide for the immediate needs of
our forces. but the work carries with
it both utilitarian and historic val
ue. When Caesars legions poured
through Gaul and into Britain and
returned to Rome again they left in
their wake military roads so care
fully constructed that many sections
remain to-day as permanent monu-
ments of their presence. American
system and modern methods likewise
promise to contribute many enduring
benefits to France. Our road-build-
ing battalions are going about their
work scientifically and with an OBJ
ject fully as far-reaching as the
work of Caesar All is not destruc-
tion that comes out of war and many
Americans built highways will remain
to become of immeasurable value to
France in conducting her commercial
| and social intercourse"