The Construction and Maintenance of Roads. 



By ALFRED J. BURROWS, Pluckley, Kent. 



Independently of the luxury afforded to travellers of all classes liy 

 sound and clean roads, their commercial value is so great that their 

 existence in any locality considerably enhances the worth of property 

 generally, and of woodland in particular ; for it is a fact well known 

 to foresters that a good outlet for a fall of timber or coppice, espe- 

 cially when the timber is of large dimensions, in direct communica- 

 tion with good roads leading to the saw-mill, to a railway station, or 

 to water carriage of any kind, frequently adds very considerably to 

 the market value of the commodity. 



The surveyor who chooses for his line of road the highest available 

 ground, insures perfect drainage, selects the best materials, and 

 has them finely broken down, economizes in every sense, and com- 

 bines in his operations all the elements of success. As the constructor 

 of a public road, he cannot be expected to sacrifice economy to the 

 picturesque, or to lose ^sight of the mathematical axiom, that the 

 shortest distance between any two points lies in tlie direction of a 

 straight line ; at the same time he need not be oblivious of the fact 

 that in laying out two miles of road such a curve may be obtained as 

 will never allow more than one-eighth of its entire length to be seen 

 from any given point in its course, and yet it will only exceed the 

 straight line by 150 yards. 



In laying out an entirely new road for ordinary traffic, the first 

 point to be ascertained is the relative levels of its extremes, so that 

 during the progress of the work the amount of excavation may be 

 proportioned to the necessary filling up of hollows, and no useless 

 expenditure of material or labour be occasioned. The operations 

 of the road-maker must also be regulated by the available supply 

 of proper materials and the facilities for obtaining them. 



The width of a road should be proportioned to the amount of traffic 

 it will have to carry. Ordinary country roads need not be stoned to 

 a greater width than eighteen feet. The experience of the last few 

 years, since traction engines have become common on country roads, 

 has shown the necessity of thoroughly bottoming all roads designed 

 for heavy traffic. Where good stone is within reach, commence 

 operations by excavating the new line to a depth of 18 or 20 inches 

 below the level of the intended roadway ; and to insure a firm 



