The Secret Of Good Roads
In the old worM they know two things, about roads and roadways vrith which the peopla ot: the United States are nol generally familiar. They kaow how to bnild a road, which is one thing, anc they know how to care for it after it is built, which is another. We of America know more about building roads than we do abont taking care of them. More attention has been devoted to the former process than to the latter. When we read abont the roadways of England, France or Germany, that have been in use for 100 or 150 years or more, we must not understand that they were so well constructed and of such good ma-' terial that they have passed through this period without aUention or expense. Nothing could be f urther from the truth. All good roads are subject to constant attention, otherwise they are bad roads. Money wül not build a road that will maintain ltself. This is where a great mistake is made in American roadways. Whatever may be said for our organization for building roads, little or nothing can bc said with respect to our organizaaon for caring for them. This is something we do not understand. We have jeen reaching for the impossible - the self sustaining, the self repairing, cheap roadway. It does not exist. I have paid some little attention to the roads of Great Britain and France durng the last few months, and what has mpressed me more is the care exerdsed n their maintenance. We have built many good roads, but have few or none o compara with the best to be seen in ;he catmtries referred to, and this solely on acconnt of our neglect. I bear in mind a beautiful carriage drive through a part of Scotland. The roadbed was as solid and smooth as a concrete floor. There was not a suggestion of a rut or depression for miles. It followed the natural contoar of the country, which was somewhat irregular, with its trim, neatly formed ditches and its spacious, substantial culverts where they were required. The smoothness I cotild haxdly understand. It .was certainly the perfect roadway. I looked for mts or depressions, bat there were none. Finally I came npon an old Scotchman with awheelbarrow, a piek, a hammer, a pointed bar, other tools and some broken stone. He waa getting ready to do some work. I stopped onr horse, got oat and examined the snrface, but could see only a very slight depression. I asked the old man what he was going to do, and he told me, in a Scotch dialect so broad that I could hardly understand it, that he was going to cut oat a bad place in the road and renew it. To see what he would say I remarked that the place was not very bad, and he remrnded me that a stitch in time savea nine. Then he went on to teil me that if a place waa neglected it rapidly becomes very bad; that the wheel running into a slight depression would, because of the extra jar, raake it speedily deeper and wider. It was a good deal like striking the sides of a litti.9 gulley: it would soon make a wide breach, and thus a large bad spot would be developed. It was like a rotten place in an apple, which would soon spread if it were not cut out. This he proceeded to do. The opening was not more than eighteen inches wide and two feet and a half long. He hammered the broken stone back into place, lef t it a little high, and said that he would come back to it again in a few days. This old man was caring for about ten miles of road, and by being exceedingly carefiü and prompt in detecting the slightest imperfecticn he was, at a very slight expense, mamtaining a most beautif ui and satisfactory surface. There is no great expense üjgpaintaining this perfect condition. Tro class of labor employed is cheap and the amount of surface inspected great. Neglecting a good road like this woold e like running expensive machinery without oil, which implies rapid destruction. Because of the well known result, the owner of the machinery cannot say oil costs too much money; we must get along without it. It is cal to do whatever is necessary to main;ain a reasonably perfect condition. It s gross wastef ulness and extravagance to do anything or to f ail to do that which will canse general deterioration and in me large expenses. The CQst of caring 'or a road is one of its fixed charges. If ;he road is ailowed to decay it must be rebnilt. Henee the fixed charge representa the cost of a new road, or so much ;hereof as belongs to the replacing and renewal of material. On the other land the constant attention which mainains a good condition at all times is also a fixed charge, and it will be found that wifchin ten years tíie difference in the ;wo costs wül be largely in favor of the atter method, with the advantage of always haviEg a good roadway rather ;han a decaying one. Under the proper system of instracion and repair there is no reason why a road should not be better at th"e end of en years than at the beginning. Ico weak points have been renewed and its etrong ones proven. Any little defects n drainage or otherwise will have been corrected. People who ride about the conntry on icydes know qnite as much-aboatioadways as any other class. They see the itüe tfaings which go to make the perfect travel, and they say that the very old highways which have the hundreds of years of history back of them are uni'ormly the best that they pass over. They acconnt for this in the way I have named. The repairs which have been going on have added to the depth of the oundation and have made the entire Missage uniform. Roadways should be considered in the nature of a business investment, and all calculations which are made with respect to them should be on a basis of a ong term of years. It wül be fonnd nat the cost of constant repairs under he system which I have suggested will e much less than the interest or added axes, because of rebuilding or expenfdve repairs. It is a simple business matter and resolves iteelf into the question as which is the cheapest way to ain a good road. Pana. Feb. 18.
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Subjects
Public Works
streets
Old News
Ann Arbor Argus