American Rural HighwaysAgg, T. R. (Thomas Radford)
Science
American Rural Highways
Agg, T. R. (Thomas Radford)
Roads -- United States
The thickness of the layer of macadam required for a road will depend
upon the same factors that were considered in connection with the
thickness of the gravel surface, i.e., kind of stone used, character
of earth foundation and nature of the traffic.
The standard macadam surface where good earth foundation is to be had
and where the loads do not exceed about four tons has for years been
eight inches thick. For heavier loads or inferior foundation, a
somewhat greater thickness would be employed, but the best practice
would probably provide a foundation course of the Telford type for
doubtful foundation conditions, especially for the extremely uncertain
cases. For soils of very good supporting strength such as very sandy
loam or deep sand or for arid regions where stable foundation is
always assured the thickness of the macadam might be reduced to six
inches. It should be borne in mind that the broken stone road is not
adapted to the traffic carried by trunk line highways in populous
districts, but is rather a type permissible on secondary roads and
usually adequate for local roads. It should never be employed for
roads carrying any considerable volume of passenger automobile traffic
or motor truck traffic. If surfaced with a bituminous material it will
carry up to 1200 passenger automobiles per day, but not to exceed
fifty trucks.
=Properties of the Stone.=--The stone employed for the broken stone
road should possess the qualities of hardness and toughness and should
be capable of resisting abrasion sufficiently well to have reasonable
life under the traffic to which it is subjected. Since the traffic may
vary from very light on some roads to far beyond the limit of the
economical capacity of this type of pavement on others, it follows
that any particular deposit of stone might be durable enough for some
roads, while for others it might be entirely inadequate. As a general
rule it has been found that stone that wears away at a moderate rate
will, when used for water-bound macadam surface, result in a smoother
trackway than one that will wear very slowly. It is not therefore
altogether certain that the most durable stone to be had should be
selected for a particular road. This is especially true now that the
water-bound macadam surface has been largely superseded for trunk line
highways and other heavily traveled roads, and is employed in
locations where service conditions are not severe.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account