THIRD ANNUAL YEAR BOOK — PART I. 21 



be the object to present in this paper the fundamental principles of 

 earth-road construction and maintenance and to furnish instruction and 

 advice to the road builders whose facilities are limited and who are so 

 often supplied with only inferior materials. 



LOCATION. 



The grade is a most important factor in the location of any kind of 

 read, and a common error in the laying out of roads is made in the en- 

 deavor to secure routes covering the shortest distance between fixed 

 points. For this purpose the road is often made to go over a hill instead 

 of around it. To illustrate the folly of this practice, it will be observed 

 that the bail of a bucket is no longer when held in a vertical position 

 than in a horizontal. Just so the road halfway around the hill or the 

 valley is sometimes no longer than the road over the hill or through the 

 valley. The difference in the length even between a straight road and 

 one that is slightly curved is less than many suppose. For instance if 

 a road between two points 10 miles apart were made to curve so that 

 the eye could see no farther than a quarter of a mile of it at once, its 

 length would exceed that of a perfectly straight road between the same 

 points by only 150 yards. Furthermore, graceful and natural curves 

 conforming to the lay of the land add beauty to the landscape and en- 

 hance the value of the property. 



ERRORS AND THEIR CORRECTION. 



One of the chief difficulties with the average country road through 

 the United States is the steep grade. Many of the steeper ones are too 

 long to be reduced by cutting or filling on the present lines, and if this 

 should be done it would cost more, oftentimes, than a change of location. 

 Many of our roads were originally laid out without any attention being 

 given to general topography, natural drainage, or road materials. In 

 most cases they followed the settlers' path from cabin to cabin, or ran 

 along the boundary lines of farms regardless of grades and direction. 

 Most of them remain today where they were located years ago and where 

 a very large expense of energy and material have been wasted in trying* 

 to travel and haul loads over them, and in endeavoring to improve their 

 deplorable condition. It is a great error as well as poor economy to con- 

 tinue to follow these primitive paths with our public highways. A more 

 advisable course would be to employ a civil engineer to change their 

 location as was done recently at Knoxville, Tenn. (Fig. 1.) 



Another and perhaps greater error in location is made in the "West 

 by continuing to lay out roads on section lines. These sections are all 

 square, with sides running north, south, east and west. The principal 

 reason for this practice seems to be the desire to have the roads follow 

 the boundary lines of farms, townships and counties. A person wishing 

 to cross the country in any direction must follow a series of rectangular 

 zigzags, sometimes crosing and recrossing hills and valleys which would 

 be avoided if the roads were located without reference to farm or county 



