HIGHWAYS— THEIR CONSTRUCTION AND MAINTENANCE. 349 



no uncommon thing. Let me instance one case whicli has given me much 

 annoyance, and will as long as I live if the matter is not corrected. The 

 highway leading north from Three Oaks has been tunipiked and graveled at 

 great expense, and when completed they find the center of the road is the cen- 

 ter of the ditch on the west side. 



The rural districts are not the only localities that suffer from this evil. 

 Look at the streets of some of your cities and villages and the evil may be 

 found there to an alarming extent. In this beautiful village of Three Oaks 

 there is not a single street where the grade has been constructed on the cen- 

 ter line. Even Elm and Main streets have been constructed without any appar- 

 ent desire to have the grade on center line of street. How long will this 

 waste of time and money continue? Until the public take the same 

 interest in their streets and highways that they do in their farms or 

 manufactories. 



Upon the subject of alignment I can not be too particular. The commis- 

 sioners should order out a competent surveyor, and set land-marks in the cen- 

 ter line of road, and on the boundary lines where they will not be disturbed, 

 and can be found for reference at any time, and then in turnpiking the road, 

 line stakes can be set from the center marks — if not disturbed — and if they 

 are, then by measurement from the ones on the outer line, and the pike built 

 to this line. 



It may be urged by some that surveyors differ so much that when the 

 work is done we know no more about the location of the line than we did 

 before. We say, employ a surveyor who is financially responsible, and the 

 courts will hold him liable for all damages sustained by the township, in 

 consequence of his blunders. [Com. of Highways vs. Beebe, Mich. Sup. 

 -Court ] 



WIDTH OF TRACK. 



The next thing to be considered is the width of the roadway, which in this 

 "State is fixed by statute at 66 feet in the clear. But the width of that por- 

 tion for travel is left to be determined by other considerations. For the drive- 

 way of our most frequented roads — except near large cities or villages where 

 there is much pleasure driving and broad roads are desirable — a width of 

 twenty-five to thirty feet will be found ample. For cross-roads and those of 

 less importance, a drive-way of from sixteen to twenty feet will be found suffi- 

 cient. All unnecessary width should be avoided, as it will increase the 

 cost of construction and repair. The highways of Europe, and the older 

 portions of our own country, seldom exceed twenty feet in width on the car- 

 riage drive. Macadamized roads very seldom have this width ; and the old 

 Eoman roads were very much narrower, seldom exceeding twelve feet on 

 straight lines where extensively used. 



SHAPE. 



The shape of the road when completed is a subject too often over-looked 

 by road makers, wide roads being left too flat to promptly turn the water 

 into ditches, and narrow ones too crowning for convenience and safety of 

 travel. The surface of all roads on heavy soil should be sufficiently convex 

 to readily turn off all the water before it has time to soak through the sur- 

 face. The shape Iwould suggest for the surface of the road would be to have 



