American Rural HighwaysAgg, T. R. (Thomas Radford)
Science
American Rural Highways
Agg, T. R. (Thomas Radford)
Roads -- United States
=Foundation.=--The foundation for brick roads is usually of Portland
cement concrete, the thickness varying with the nature of the traffic
and the kind of soil upon which the pavement is built. For well
drained soils and normal highway traffic, 5 inches is the ordinary
thickness of foundation. Under favorable conditions such as locations
with sandy soils or in semi-arid or arid regions where the soil is
always stable, the foundation may be four inches thick, and a
considerable mileage of brick road has been built with concrete
foundations less than four inches thick.
In other locations the soil and traffic conditions require a base six
inches or more in thickness, and the proper thickness can be
determined only after all of the factors involved are known and have
been analyzed. It is impractical to adopt a standard thickness of
foundation that will be equally economical for all locations and all
kinds of traffic. As the brick pavement is essentially a heavy traffic
type of surface, the design cannot be varied greatly with similar
foundation conditions because the weight of individual loads is the
significant factor and this does not vary so much as the volume of
traffic. A variation in volume of traffic may be compensated for by a
variation in the quality of the brick as already set forth.
The mixtures for the concrete foundation vary widely because of the
variation in the aggregates employed. If the fine and coarse aggregate
for the concrete are of good quality a mixture of one part cement, two
and one-half parts sand and five parts of coarse aggregate would
insure concrete of adequate strength. A somewhat leaner mixture is
sometimes employed and would be satisfactory if the aggregates were of
exceptional concrete making quality. Mixtures of sand and pebbles
(unscreened gravel) may also be used if care is exercised to secure a
mixture of adequate strength. The proportion will of necessity vary
with each particular material and the discussion of the various
considerations involved may be obtained from various standard works on
concrete and concrete materials.
Broken stone macadam is sometimes utilized for the foundation course
of the brick pavement and such foundations are constructed as
water-bound, which is described in a previous chapter. The thickness,
like that of the concrete foundation, varies with the soil conditions
and the weight of the loads that are expected to use the road. The
macadam is placed in a single layer and is rolled and bonded with
screenings as described in the chapter dealing with water-bound
macadam. Six inches is a common thickness for the macadam base. This
type of foundation should be employed only where the soil is quite
stable and where material costs are such as to insure that the macadam
base is materially cheaper than one of concrete. This would usually be
in locations where the cost of cement is high because of long hauls
and where suitable macadam materials may be obtained close at hand.
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