The Future of Road-making in AmericaHulbert, Archer Butler
History
The Future of Road-making in America
Hulbert, Archer Butler
Roads; Roads -- United States; Roads -- United States -- Design and construction
It had been the practice of engineers in their specifications to call
for the best trap rock for all the stone construction. As this rock is
hard to crush and difficult to be transported some seventy or eighty
miles to this part of New Jersey, I found that in order to construct all
of the road from this best material it would take more money than the
bonds would provide; so I had half of the depth which forms the
foundation made of good dry sedimentary rock. Of course, in this there
is considerable slate, but the breaking is not nearly so costly as the
breaking of syenite or Jersey trap rock, and there was a saving of
thirty per cent. As the surface of the road had to take all the wear, I
required the best trap rock for this purpose.
Since the construction of these roads in Chester Township, roads are now
built under the state-aid act by county officials and paid for as
follows: One-third by the state, ten per cent by the adjoining property
holders, and the balance (56-2/3 per cent) by the county. The roads
constructed under this act are generally leading roads and those mostly
traversed by heavy teams. They are constructed similarly to those in
Chester Township, excepting that they are generally twelve feet wide and
from ten to twelve inches deep. Many of them have a telford foundation,
which is now put down at about the same price as macadam, and meets most
of the conditions better than macadam. The less expensive stone is used
for foundations, and the best and more costly for surface only. In this
way the cost of construction has been greatly reduced.
In regard to the width, a road nine or ten feet wide has been found to
be quite as serviceable as one of greater width, unless it is made
fourteen feet and over. It is not claimed that a narrow road is just as
good as a wide road, but it has been found better to have the cost in
length than in width in rural districts. In and near towns, where there
is almost constant passing, the road should not be less than from
fourteen to twenty feet in width. The difficulty in getting on and off
the stone road where teams are passing is not so great as is supposed.
To meet this difficulty in the past, on each side of the road the
specifications require the contractor to make a shoulder of clay,
gravel, or other hard earth; this is never less than three feet and
sometimes six to eight feet in width, according to the kinds of soil the
road is composed of and the liability of frequent meeting and passing.
In rural districts the top-dressing of these shoulders is taken from the
side ditches; grass sods are mixed in when found, and in some cases
grass seed is sown. As the stone roadbed takes the travel the grass soon
begins to grow, receiving considerable fertilizing material from the
washing of the road; and when the sod is once formed the waste material
from the wear of the road is lodged in the grass sod and the shoulder
becomes hard and firm, except when the frost is coming out.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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