456 OUR COMMON ROADS—MURPHY. 
is engaged in cleaning up drains and some harvest work, in the 
busy season, he becomes familiar with the peculiarities of his 
length and with the best way to deal with it, and if he is a good 
workman he soon will Jearn to take an interest in the road, which 
is his business to keep in order. 
In a well-built road the process of deterioration will be gradual, 
if the road has been originally strong enough, when skilfully 
managed, a careful surveyor can tide over a year or two with 
reduced expenditure, for expenditure on road maintenance has 
often to be reduced below what is desirable, that it may not 
exceed a certain amount. 
WIDTH AND TRANSVERSE FORM OF ROADS. 
In France four classes of roads are prescribed as follows :— 
First, 66 feet wide, of which 22 feet in the middle are paved 
with stone. 
Second, 52 feet wide, of which 20 feet in the middle are stoned. 
Third, 33 feet wide, of which 16 feet in the middle are stoned, 
and 
Fourth, a width of 26 feet, of which 16 feet in the middle are 
stoned. 
Telford’s Holyhead road, which runs through a hilly country, 
is 32 feet wide between the fences on flat ground, 28 feet wide 
on side cuttings, and 22 feet along steep and precipitous ground. 
The Cumberland or National road in the United States has a 
prescribed width of 80 feet, but the prepared roadway is only 30 
feet a 
Wide roads are sometimes finished with a road covering in the 
middle only, of sufficient width for vehicles to pass each other, 
whilst the sides are maintained as earth roads for light and fast 
travel when the soil is comparatively dry and firm. 
Engineers differ as to the most advantageous form of cross- 
sections, some recommending a convex curve approaching to the 
segment of a circle or a semi-elipse, whilst others prefer two 
plains gently sloping towards the side gutters and meeting in 
the middle of the road by a short connecting convex surface. 
There are obvious objections to both forms in certain situations. 
