MISCELLANEOUS PAPERS. 



403 



for instance one that rises four inches per foot horizontally, will do for the side 

 of the ditches next the road side fences, as they are less likely to be cut or 

 trampled ont of shape by passing vehicles. The usual practice in turnpiking is 



to make a road with the side slopes and cross section as shown in Fig. 1, the 

 objections to which are evident and may be concisely stated as follows: The 

 side ditches have steep sides, their deejK^st portions are next the roadway, the 

 road is narrow, — travel is kept in one place, — it is difficult and often dangerous- 

 to turn out; the road soon becomes rough and rutted, and bears deep mud holes 

 on its upper surface, as scarcely any water can reach the side channels with- 

 out first passing through the soil of the roadway itself. 



The side of tlie roadway should be sloped from the center, gradually increas- 

 ing in steepness to the bottom of the ditches, so as to give the water the greatest 

 rapidity, where its washing will do the least hurt. Practically it will answer 

 every purpose to make the sides of the ditches uniformly ascending planes, 

 which are curved to meet each other after reaching the road bed. Fig. 2 shows 

 the proper form of a turnpiked road ; the dotted line marks the position of the 

 original surface of the land, the portion above the dotted line the roadway, the 

 light portion below the dotted line the side ditches, which have been excavated 

 in forming the roadway. 



Fig. 2. 



The width of the roadway (that portion above the dotted line in Fig. 2) should 

 be made to depend upon the amount and character of the travel that passes 

 over the road. A roadway of twenty-five feet in width will probably accommo- 

 date any traffic that passes over or may be expected to pass over any country 

 road in this State. It is doubtful economy to construct a roadway less than 

 sixteen feet under any circumstances, while a roadway of twenty feet will prob- 

 ably answer well for all roads except such as have an exceptionally large traffic 

 over them. A roadway of twenty feet will afford ample room for two teams to 

 meet, even when loaded with unusually wide and bulky articles, as for instance 

 with hay, for wagons are usually less than five feet wide, and racks do not pro- 

 ject over four feet on each side, making the total width thirteen feet ; if the 

 outer wheel of each wagon be driven on the edge of the roadbed the rack will 

 project four feet over the slope of the ditch and there will be a clear space of 

 two feet between the racks. Even if they drove down on the side there would 

 be little or no danger of tipping over. The ditches or side channels should 

 have a concave surface ; cut No. 3 shows a desirable form of cross-sections ;. 

 cut No. 4 shows the ordinary undesirable form. 



