Earth or Macadam Road.
Since the hard, dry, smooth earth road is an excellent road, and since it is possible with reasonable effort to induce the people to construct and maintain such a road from one end of this state to the other, with a good many side roads of the same sort on the way, why not strive for this possible end, instead of attempting to get a few miles of hard road constructed? Such a road could be pointed to with pride by every citizen of the state in the presence of any citizen of any other state. Would it not be better to have a well constructed and carefully maintained earth road from Logan to St. George, a distance of 350 miles, than to have the best tar macadam road for a distance of 37 miles between Ogden and Salt Lake City? The longer road would cost $25,000 with many interested and willing people to pay for it, while the other would cost thirty-seven times as much with fewer people personally interested in it. Every farmer between Logan and St. George drives upon the public highway, while many persons in the larger cities rarely, if ever, do.
Cost of Roads.
An ordinary macadam road two rods wide costs about $20,000 per mile; a tar macadam road about $25,000 per mile; an asphaltum pavement some $44,000 per mile; a gravel road, covered with gravel one foot deep, costs from $1,600 to $5,000 per mile, and the cost of constructing an earth road the same width varies from $40 to $100 per mile.
While the figures given are the costs of constructing various roads two rods wide, this occasion is taken to emphasize the fact that a road sixteen feet wide is broad enough in most country districts, while in sparsely settled parts even narrower roads will answer all actual needs very well.
Ordinary Macadam.
Ordinary macadam pavement is composed of carefully selected stone and gravel thoroughly rolled into a compact mass, with the material so graded that the coarsest stones are on the bottom and the finer binding material is on the top. Such a roadway proved very satisfactory until the general advent of the automobile. In order to resist the digging or scratching effect of the driving wheels of high speed motor cars, which is technically called the shear, it is necessary to use tar or some other binding material for holding the particles of stone more firmly together.
Tar Macadam.
Tar macadam roads are constructed the same as other macadam roads, except that the top layers of broken stone are covered with hot tar before they are rolled into place.
Costs Compared.
If $70 per mile be taken as the cost of constructing an earth road two rods wide, the cost of building one mile of gravel road will build some fifty miles of earth road; one mile of ordinary macadam will build 300 miles of earth road; one mile of tar macadam will build 360 miles of earth road; and one mile of asphalt pavement will construct 600 miles of earth road.
The Earth Road a Portion
of Better Roads.
An important argument in favor of the earth road is the fact that when it is laid out and constructed, it is the beginning of a first-class gravel road, a first-class macadam road, or a first-class tar macadam road, so that by getting the earth road made, the individual interested primarily in the construction of hard roads has succeeded in getting the hard road well begun.
Roads in Sand and Soft Clay.
While nearly everywhere in Utah the soil is such that it will make a good earth road, there are parts in which the soft clay is filled with alkali, and there are other parts where there are extensive stretches of sand. Neither of these alone can be made into an earth road that will be a good, passable road all the year round. The sand road is best in wet weather, while the alkali road is best in dry weather. If, however, the soft clay and the sand are so mixed on the road that the clay just fills the openings or interstices between the grains of sand, and yet this quantity is not so large as to keep the grains of sand from touching or coming in contact with one another, the road, if properly and constantly maintained, will be a good one.
Cost of Maintenance.
Since proper maintenance is an important part of the work on ordinary roads, its cost will be considered briefly.
The repairs and maintenance on an asphalt pavement cost from 9 to 60 cents per square yard annually, or for a two rod road the cost is from $1,750 to $11,600 per mile per year; on a tar macadam road the cost is from $2,000 to $4,000 per mile per year; on a gravel road it is about $40 per mile per annum, while for $5 per mile per year an earth road can be kept in a condition of repair that will surprise those who have not used the split-log drag on such a road.
As already stated, narrower roads will answer all necessary demands in many parts, and maintaining such will reduce the cost proportionately. A well kept narrow road is infinitely better than a broad one in bad condition.
Earth Roads Poorly Kept.
Concerning the maintenance and the construction of roads, Mr. Charles H. Hoyt of the United States Office of Public Roads, writes:[5] “It is sad when we have to say that because of neglect the roads that have already been built have been allowed to go to pieces and have not been properly maintained. Even our ordinary dirt roads are horrible examples of this statement.”
On the value to a community of good roads, Mr. Hoyt says, in the same article: “Any country which longer continues to insist upon remaining stagnant concerning highways, will soon be classed behind the times and avoided by progressive citizens.”
Mr. D. Howard King, Expert on Split-log Drag, Office of Public Roads, has prepared a bulletin called Farmers’ Bulletin, No. 321, on “The Use of the Split-Log Drag on Earth Roads.” All who are interested in this subject should secure a copy of this excellent paper from the United States Department of Agriculture, Washington, D. C., and make a careful study of the same.
Drag Reduces Dust.
On the use of this drag the bulletin says, in part: “Clay, when mixed with water and thoroughly worked, becomes remarkably tough and impervious to water. If compacted in this condition it becomes extremely hard. Another valuable result of dragging is the reduction of dust, for the particles of clay adhere so tenaciously that there is but little wear when the surface is smooth. Dust on an earth road is due to the breaking up under traffic of the frayed and upturned edges of ruts and hoof prints. If the surface is smoothed after each rain and the road dries hard and even, no edges are exposed to crushing, and the only dust which forms is that due to actual wear of the road surface.”