Foundation.—The foundation or lower course consists of a layer of broken stone six inches thick placed on a well drained and thoroughly rolled earth subgrade. In exceptional cases, the Telford type of foundation might be employed.
The lower course of broken stone is finished in the same manner as water-bound macadam, being bonded with stone screenings or with fine gravel of high clay content.
Since this course is in reality the foundation of the surface, it is necessary to secure stability by appropriate construction methods, exactly as in constructing water-bound macadam.
Fig. 21.—Type of Roller used on Gravel and Macadam Roads
Upper or Wearing Course.—The wearing course consists of a layer of stone about two and one-half inches thick. The stone is placed and rolled and the spaces between the stones partially filled with some suitable bituminous material. The bituminous material is usually applied by means of a mechanical spreading device connected to a tank wagon. The bituminous materials employed for this class of construction are semi-solid in character and must be heated to give them sufficient fluidity for application. They may be heated in the tank wagon which is used for the application or they may be heated in separate tanks and transferred to the distributing wagon for spreading. Some kind of a nozzle or group of nozzles is employed for spreading the material so that it can be delivered in the form of a spray or at least in a thin fan-shaped stream and can be distributed in a fairly uniform layer over the stone. The binder will cool rather rapidly after it is applied, but meanwhile will flow into the openings between the stones and will form over the surface stones a coating of slight thickness.
The surface of the macadam is next covered with a layer of chips of tough rock, similar to the material used for the final dressing in surface treatments. These are carefully brushed into the openings between the larger stones by means of heavy brush brooms. This is an exceedingly important part of the work and often a much neglected part of the construction.
The surface is then covered with a second application of bituminous material, somewhat less in quantity than required for the first treatment and the surface again covered with stone chips and brushed.
The surface is then thoroughly rolled and is ready for traffic.
Patching.—As in the case of surface treatments, there are likely to be places that, on account of defects in the construction, will fail soon after the road is placed under traffic. These will quickly enlarge unless they are repaired promptly. The repairs are made by loosening the stone in the area affected and adding new stone as needed and then pouring on the necessary amount of bituminous material to coat the stones. Allowance must be made for the compression of the material by tamping so that a depression does not result. The stones are carefully tamped to place and covered with chips which are also tamped.