The Future of Road-making in America

by Archer Butler Hulbert

The bottom of the ditch may vary in width from three to twelve inches, or even more, as may be found necessary in order to carry the largest amount of water which is expected to flow through it at any one time. Sometimes the only ditches necessary to carry off the surface water are those made by the use of the road machines or road graders. The blade of the machine may be set at any desired angle, and when drawn along by horses, cuts into the surface and moves the earth from the sides toward the center, forming gutters alongside and distributing the earth uniformly over the traveled way. Such gutters are liable to become clogged by brush, weeds, and other débris, or destroyed by passing wagons, and it is therefore better, when the space permits, to have the side ditches above referred to, even if the road be built with a road machine.

In order to have a good road it is just as necessary that water should not be allowed to attack the substructure from below as that it should not be permitted to percolate through it from above. Especially is the former provision essential in cold climates, where, if water is allowed to remain in the substructure, the whole roadway is liable to become broken up and destroyed by frost and the wheels of vehicles. Therefore, where the road runs through low wet lands or over certain kinds of clayey soils, surface drainage is not all that is necessary. Common side drains catch surface water and surface water only. Isaac Potter says:

"Many miles of road are on low, flat lands and on springy soils, and thousands of miles of prairie roads are, for many weeks in the year, laid on a wet subsoil. In all such cases, and, indeed, in every case where the nature of the ground is not such as to insure quick drainage, the road may be vastly benefited by under drainage. An under drain clears the soil of surplus water, dries it, warms it, and makes impossible the formation of deep, heavy, frozen crusts, which are found in every undrained road when the severe winter weather follows the heavy fall rains. This crust causes nine-tenths of the difficulties of travel in the time of sudden or long-continued thaws.

"Roads constructed over wet undrained lands are always difficult to manage and expensive to maintain, and they are liable to be broken up in wet weather or after frosts. It will be much cheaper in the long run to go to the expense of making the drainage of the subjacent soil and substructure as perfect as possible. There is scarcely an earth road in the United States which cannot be so improved by surface or subdrainage as to yield benefits to the farmers a hundred times greater in value than the cost of the drains themselves.

"Under drains are not expensive. On the contrary, they are cheap and easily made, and if made in a substantial way and according to the rules of common sense a good under drain will last for ages. Use the best tools and materials you can get; employ them as well as you know how, and wait results with a clear conscience. Slim fagots of wood bound together and laid lengthwise at the bottom of a carefully graded drain ditch will answer fairly well if stone or drain tile cannot be had, and will be of infinite benefit to a dirt road laid on springy soils."

Subdrains should be carefully graded with a level at the bottom to a depth of about four feet, and should have a continuous fall throughout their entire length of at least six inches for each one hundred feet in length. If tile drains cannot be had, large, flat stones may be carefully placed so as to form a clear, open passage at the bottom for the flow of the water. The ditch should then be half filled with rough field stones, and on these a layer of smaller stones or gravel and a layer of sod, hay, gravel, cinders, or straw, or, if none of these can be had, of soil. If field stones or drain tile cannot be procured, satisfactory results may be attained by the use of logs and brush.

If there be springs in the soil which might destroy the stability of the road, they should, if possible, be tapped and the water carried under or along the side until it can be turned away into some side channel. Such drains may be made of bundles of brush, field stones, brick, or drain tiles. They should be so protected by straw, sod, or brush as to prevent the soil from washing in and clogging them.

Most of the roads in this country are of necessity constructed of earth, while in a few of the richer and more enterprising communities the most important thoroughfares are surfaced with gravel, shell, stones, or other materials. Unless some new system for the improvement of public roads is adopted, the inability of rural communities to raise funds for this purpose will necessarily cause the construction of hard roads to be very gradual for some time to come. Until this new system is adopted the most important problem will be that of making the most of the roads which exist, rather than building new ones of specially prepared materials. The natural materials and the funds already available must be used with skill and judgment in order to secure the best results. The location, grades, and drainage having been treated in the preceding pages, the next and most important consideration is that of constructing and improving the various kinds of roads.

Of earth roads, as commonly built, it suffices to say that their present conditions should not be tolerated in communities where there are any other materials with which to improve them. Earth is the poorest of all road materials, aside from sand, and earth roads require more attention than any other kind of roads, and as a rule get less. At best, they possess so many defects that they should have all the attention and care of which their condition is susceptible. With earth alone, however, a very passable road can be made, provided the principles of location, drainage, and shape of surface, together with that of keeping the surface as smooth and firm as possible by rolling, be strictly adhered to. In fact a good earth road is second to none for summer travel and superior to many of the so-called macadam or stone roads.

"Water is the great road destroyer," and too much attention cannot be given to the surface and subdrainage of earth roads. The material of which their surfaces are composed is more susceptible to the action of water and more easily destroyed by it than any other highway material. Drainage alone will often change a bad road into a good one, while on the other hand the best road may be destroyed by the absence of good drains.