Five Mile Beach weekly journal., 1921-10-28

proved roads. All county seats and all
towns of 1000 people or more are con-
nected by good roads, which enable
the farmer to haul his produce to mar
ket, and the city man to send his pro-
duct to the farmer. Her roads explain
why Maryland has taken the lead
among all the states in the develop
ment of rural motor truck express SER
vice. They have brought general pros
perity to the state. Maryland people
are firm in their belief that they have
earned their cost, and if they require
rebuilding today the state is better
able to rebuild them now than it would
have been to have gone without them.
The point is that the perfect main
tenance which all the roads of the sys-
tenn have received from the day they
were completed, and the systematic
scheme of gradual improvement which
is now being worked out will enable
many of the roads to give satisfactory
service for years to come and they will
give that service at much less expense
than the cost of roads of higher type
at the present time.
Improving the Roads
Striking examples of the improve
ments which are fitting these roads to
carry the increased traffic are to be
found on the main road between Phila-
delphia and Washington through Balti-
more The section between Belair and
Washington, a distance of more than
so miles, has been widened from IL and
IA feet, to 20 feet, by the construction
of concrete shoulders on each side of
the existing macadam, and in the pro-
cess of widening the row of the road
has also been made to conform to mod
ern standards. The old roads had a
crown of three-quarters of an inch to
the foot, which made the sides SO steep
that the traffic was forced to cling to
the center of the road, because to get
on the sides meant sliding to the
shoulder and gutter. All traffic, there
that as the volume of traffic increased
it was necessary to pass other vehicles
more frequently, which meant going
over to the side, and chewing" off the
edge of the macadam. The concrete
shoulders have been Sc constructed as
to remedy this condition as well as to
widen the road.
The surface of the shoulders is about
2 inches lower than the center of the
road, and from 2 to 5 inches higher
than tn cold surface of the macadam
adjacent to the shoulders. The road
surface has been brought up to the
height of the shoulders by the addition
of a wedge of bituminous macadam ma
terial which has a depth of from 2 to 5
inches adjacent to the concrete, and
tapers off to a fe~atheredge at 2 to 6
feet from the shoulder.
Widened Roads Give Satisfaction
This unusual construction has given
eminent satisfaction. No difficulty
whatever has been experienced in
keeping the macadam in place. The
concrete on the side prevents the
spreading di~sintegration of the maca-
dam, and the macadam is thickened on
the edges where it is normally weakest.
Some of these sections have since been
surface treated over the entire width
and it is impossible now to tell which
part of the surface is the original
macadam, and which is the section
filled in. The method of treatment en-
abled traffic to use the road at all
times during construction, and best OF
all, resulted in a road surface which is
satisfactorily carrying the heaviest of
modern traffic without abandoning a
dollars worth of the original con-
construction.
New Roads Built Without DetOurs
The principle of improving the roads
of the system without interruption to
traffic is one to which we try to ad-
here in all of our work, even when the
old road is to be entirely reconstruct
ed. When the new section of road is
to be of concrete, we have adopted the
nlan of building the surface in two
longitudinal sections with a joint run
ming along the center. This form OF
construction was used on parts OF the
NEUTRALITY-SUSPICIOUS. road, several
sections of which were completely de-
stroyed during the spring of 1918. One
half of the 2O-foot roadway was con-
structed at a time, allowing the tramc
to use the other half of the road ST.
multaneously with construction, first
on the old roadbed, then on the new
concrete. The two sections were tled
together with A-inch round rods 4
feet lone with one-half their length IN
each half of the pavement. They were
snaced 2 feet center to center along
the road.
Some difficulty was experienced at
first in keeping the traffic from run
ming against the projecting rods beiore
the second section was laid; but TINS
was overcome by laying old railroad
r sticks of wood along the eQge