Show FOR BUILDERS suggestions TO HELP THE IN experienced IN HIGHWAY construction FIRST STEP IS DRAINAGE got get water off and aw away 11 y 1 from road as quickly as a Pos possible sibl weeds and sod make trouble proper use of gravel by HOWARD H GROSS it is not overstating the fact to say that three fourths of the mon men charged with the responsibility of building and repairing the roads roada the country over know very little about the tha subject they have not had the engineering experience or even the practical experience necessary they haya have simply followed their predecessors and they do what the follow fellow before them did in the movement for better highways the first step Is a more intelligent expenditure of tho the time and money appropriated for the betterment of the roads to the end that the community shall get the most and tho the best results for its contribution it Is common practice to do either cither tho the wrong thing or if perchance the right thing is done to do it at tho the wrong time of the year and the result is very often an expenditure of one dollar to get thirty cents worth of benefit As an instance we might cite that illinois is spending dini five million of dollars a year upon the highways and those in position to know assert that more than halt of it la is wasted by III timed and misdirected effort that the outlet la in unobstructed it if side ditches aro are used especially on a till hill slope and have them as wide as practicable at the bottom suppose the bed of tho the ditch is twenty four inches wide down a hill tope slope construct so BO that the bottom or of the ditch next to the hill bill side aldo will ba b en an e n loch inch or so BO lower than the side elda next to the road so BO the eow cow will tend to the hill side ld instead of to the road wherever it la Is necessary to carry water wafer across SL a roadway it Is test host to use una iron iran or concrete ripe pipe and carry it at an angle strong tile w will ill do if it Is placed a suM clent distance below the curta ceo ceso it will not be beA I 1 by the tb braffit it the outlet of tills this crossing should be a bly farther down hill than the intake where cu culberta lverts cul verta aro are necessary have ha ve them ot of ample size and it la Is equally important to give tho the culvert f all 11 A twelve inch culvert cu vert twenty fo four ur feet long with a fall of four inches la Is better than one twice tho the size with a fall ot of two inches the rapid flow through the culvert with a greater full fall will keep tho the culvert clean in one where the low flow Is sluggish des desposito posits will form and soon will choke choka tho the flow lie he suro sure to leave ample outlet so 30 tho the water can move MONG freely after passing through the culvert in grading to make a till nil do not allow any weeds or nod to got get into tho the roadway these will decay and mako make all kinds of trouble it la 10 much better to keep them theca out in the first instance if in making the fill the material must bo be moved six nix hundred feet or less leea it will be advantageous to do this with scrapers wheel type preferred but it if the material must bo be moved more mora than that it will be cheaper to put it upon wagons any filling of this nature should be made early in the spring preferably as aa soon eoon its as the frost Is in out of the ground so it will have ample time to compact and settle by the summer rains and the traffic by proper handling during the summer season a oil fill several feet deep can be put in shape for the road A fill of this kind should bo be dragged with a split log drag or its equivalent after rains in order to keup keel the fills smooth and rounded so the water will run ok off quickly the main thing to Is to prevent this fill from becoming water soaked it this thin to Is done don it will be thoroughly dried out and in good condition before tho the win ter sets in ang it can be kept comparatively ively dry it the wes are kept open at the side and water la Is kept off the surface Bur tace in order to do this athla wa W a Z OAR 2 4 of aa fl V M AV R goolt before improvement johnson city tenn what la Is true of illinois to la true throughout the central west lu in order to make suggestions that will be of value one mus must t assume same borne typical conditions and indicate what it Is best beat to do to improve the roads under them in road improve improvement amerst the first firs t and most important step ts Is drainage without proper drainage every effort will fall fail water Is 13 the only natural enemy ot of roads and water la Is a coward and will run away it if given a chance hence got the water off the road and away from the road as quickly as aa possible this may be done either by surface or subsurface sub aub surface drainage by side ditches with ample amala tall fall and proper outlet to carry the water away from the highway or by tile it if the latter Is done nothing less than four inch tile ought to be used and it should be very carefully laid and should be put on each side of the road particularly where the drainage Is most needed be sure tho the ruts ruta must bo be tilled filled AS soon boon as aa mado made when a grade erada lo Is once established the surface thereafter should nover never be disturbed except tho the ta top p two 0 oil I 1 three inches in order to 0 smooth it 11 out with a road drag or harrow barrow we will assume that tho the fill has been matte made preparatory to p putting t ang gravel or crushed stone upon the he hl highway hway and thus have a permanent improvement the following suggestions will bo be of benefit to the inexperienced road builder who has simply farm tools to use it la Is not designed to suggest to the experienced builder having improved road machinery to use where roads roada are graveled it has been very common for the farmers farmer to haul the gravel and dump it down in a winrow winro w and leave it to be spread and compacted by bf every driver avoids this winrow until soft weather compels him to drive over 1 4 1 ff W r az ilk W 1 lam after improve me nt johnson city tenn this ahti beautiful road shows the same highway as a the other illustration tra taken lent leas thin than a half bait mile away after the nania mania han ham been improved uch such roads roada mean better schoola moro social alf contentment more anil and higher farm values value tho the increase in the vallia of farm lands land along thin road lii im itald to be lt kt lant times ms as much as LB tho tax to ta build the HIP road theme illustrations were by the U V 8 office ot of public rioha it hence the road made in this manner requires a long time and a great deal of subsequent attention before a fairly good gravel road is the before putting down the gravel shoulders shoud bo be made the width that the gravel isto 3 to be 1 spread which may be anything from nine feet or more after the gravel Is la dumped in between the shoulders tako an old fashioned held barrow andge and go back and forth over this winrow and with the aid of a hand band work here and ahme have it 11 spread over the abo surface smoothly a and nd three or tour four inches higher at tho the middle chanat the sides rides tola this harrowing barrow lne 1 Is very important as it gets arts the clea composing competing th the material closer bo together gother and to a large extent takes tho the place of a roll er it a roller can bt b had this also thourl bo be used and used imm immediately 1 after a rain but a KOOI good road can bo be had without a roller if it la Is taken care can of arid and looked after during the first yew year and the best implement to do this la Is with a split log drag draff using it the same as aa on an earth road ruts huts will form orui along alone the wagon track and where tho the horses go hut but a dragging of the surface will till these and in a short abort time a compact smooth roadway maywill will result A better road can bo be built in one year if this plan la Is followed than can be built in three years by tho the old plan and the road will b be smoother and will servo a better purpose do not forget that the most moat important part of roud building la Is drainage dral naga and that uvo five or six inches ot of gravel on a well wall drained road will give bet ter results than twice this matar upon a road that la in imperfectly drain ed when the writer was attending the great international meeting of boad engla etere in parts paris 1908 1903 ono one of the delegates asked ati an eminent french engineer how soon after the road was built ho he commenced to make maka a hla 1113 answer was the next day it if any place a stitch la in time saves nine it 16 certainly will do so BO oli on tho the highway the splendid roads roada of europe are looked after by an attendant who goes over them every week and as soon eoon aa a break appears the necessary repair la Is made in this country the practice has been to build an expensive road or pave a street at a high cost and do nothing with it until it becomes impassable when any township hau has well graded and thoroughly drained its highways the tha question of good roads la Is halt half holved but only hall half A smooth hard wearing surface must be put upon the same came especially upon tho the main highways where the state stata aid plan Is in followed tho the expense Is not a burden to anyone and tho the benefits are many aou n nd shared in by all wo we sometimes hear tho the statement made by those who are trying frying to find objections to tho the building of hard roads that an earth road la Is much anter to drive upon and easier coaler for the horses arid and therefore ther eforo tho the ad vantages of a good road are in some boma degree oft off set oct by the fact that an earth road at certain seasons la Is the botter better of the two the writer has always advocated that where it to la practical it would b be well to leave a smooth earth road alongside of the atone or gravel road so that the drivers might choose between the tha two when the weather to la fine and the earth road la Is smooth the JD 21 it or the be d wearing the hard road serves a double purpose let lat a heavy rain descend and everybody takes the tha hard road tile the difference to la tho the improved highway la in good days daya tn ta tho the year and the other road to la good and bad by turns akam side aide by side which can easily ensley be dono done without additional addition af expense the peo pia have the choice thero there Is another feature ct cf the per manent road that should not bo be lost night of in the busy season while the crops are being planted sometimes a heavy rain will fall so BO that toe fields are ara too wot to lo worx with TO good roads the farmer can make a trip to town do tho the necessary errands erds ran ds haul off a load of grain or hogs and keep his farm hands bands employed it the roads are unimproved he ha can neither work the farm nor travel the highways every road overseer and in fact every ery farmer should send to tho the state engineer of his state and to the of public roads at washington and have his him name put upon the mailing list so 10 that the bulletins and cincu lard of which scores are ara published every c ry year upon road bul building iding and aad maintenance te nance road drainage and nugget tlona that diat grow out of the exper experience lenci of road load building can be followed up and adopted by them if 11 this were dono done it would stop an enormous enor moua amount of money that every ever year Is 1 wasted upon the highways by ill timed and misdirected effort |