The Old Pike: A History of the National Road, with Incidents, Accidents, and Anecdotes ThereonSearight, Thomas B. (Thomas Brownfield)
History
The Old Pike: A History of the National Road, with Incidents, Accidents, and Anecdotes Thereon
Searight, Thomas B. (Thomas Brownfield)
Cumberland Road; Pennsylvania -- Biography
ready to be turned over to the State, and you will accordingly turn them
over.
2d. Respecting the mode of repairs. In order to insure efficient and
permanent repairs, they are to be made on that which is called the
Macadam system; that is to say, the pavement of the old road must be
entirely broken up, and the stones removed from the road; the bed of
which must then be raked smooth, and made nearly flat, having a rise of
not more than three inches from the side to the center, in a road thirty
feet wide; the ditches on each side of the road, and the drains leading
from them, are to be so constructed that the water cannot stand at a
higher level than that which is eighteen inches below the lowest part of
the surface of the road; and, in all cases, when it is practicable, the
drains should be adjusted in such a manner as to lead the water entirely
from the side ditches. The culverts are to be cleared out, and so
adjusted as to allow the free passage of all water that may tend to
cross the road.
Having thus formed the bed of the road, cleaned out the ditches and
culverts, and adjusted the side drains, the stone, reduced to a size not
exceeding four ounces in weight, must be spread on with shovels, and
raked smooth. The old material should be used only when it is of
sufficient hardness, and no clay or sand must be mixed with the stone.
In replacing the covering of stone, it will be found best to lay it on
in strata of about three inches thick, admitting the travel for a short
interval on each layer, and interposing such obstructions from time to
time as will insure an equal travel over every portion of the road;
taking care to keep persons in constant attendance to rake the surface
when it becomes uneven by the action of the wheels of carriages. In
those parts of the road, if any, where materials of good quality cannot
be obtained from the road in sufficient quantity to afford a course of
six inches, new stone must be procured to make up the deficiency to that
thickness; but it is unnecessary, in any part, to put on a covering of
more than nine inches. None but limestone, flint or granite, should be
used for the covering, if practicable; and no covering should be placed
upon the bed of the road till it has become well compacted and
thoroughly dried. At proper intervals, on the slopes of hills, drains or
paved catch-waters must be made across the road, when the cost of
constructing culverts would render their use inexpedient. These
catch-waters must be made with a gradual curvature, so as to give no
jolts to the wheels of carriages passing over them; but whenever the
expense will justify the introduction of culverts, they will be used in
preference; and in all cases where the water crosses the road, either in
catch-waters or under culverts, sufficient pavements and overfalls must
be constructed to provide against the possibility of the road or banks
being washed away by it.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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