FIFTH ANNUAL YEAR BOOK — PART VI. 539 



pursued is to drain the pond. Capillary action is capable of lifting water to 

 a considerable distance and if the base of a road grade is constantly saturated 

 with water the result is usually fatal to the road. I have in mind one 

 instance in a neighboring county where the supervisors had expended several 

 hundred dollars in grading through such [a pond with the result each time 

 that the grade in a few years became useless. They then proceeded to ex- 

 pend two hundred dollars in draiaing the pond, and now have an excellent 

 road. There are almost innumerable cases in Iowa where the same remedy 

 would bring about the same results. 



Side •drainage .—In road construction the aim should be to force all rain 

 water which talis upon the surface to flow immediately away from the road 

 to a satisfactory outlet. Hence, channels must be provided to carry the surface 

 water. These channels should consist of two ditches, one each side of the 

 traveled road. 



Figf. 4— View Showing: State Aid Macadamized Road in New York State 



Exhibiting' Crowning: of the Road and the Side Ditches 



Constructed to Reg-ular Grades. 



Immediately after heavy rain. 



In our own work we consider it better to slope the side of the ditch next 

 to the road gradually so as to avoid the danger of accidents from vehicles 

 overturning. 



Figure 3 shows a properly graded earth road as constructed in Carroll 

 county. The shape of the ditches is about what we consider best. Every 

 road should be provided with such a ditch on each side in cuts as well as in 

 surface construction. 



These side ditches should always be built to continuous grades to satis- 

 factory outlets. In many cases we note that this principle is not properly 



