MICHIGAN ROADS AND FORESTS 



Michigan Road Notes. 



The good roa<is nn-vtniein i- spreading rap- 

 idly through Ionia county. 



Supervisors of Cass county have been peti- 

 tioned to submit the matter of good roads to 

 the people next spring. 



Mason County will vote in April on the 

 issuing of bonds for $105.000 to extend grave 1 

 and stone roads in the county. 



Two more miles of the improved Holton 

 -hip road. Muskegon county, was adopt- 

 ed Friday by the county road- commissioners 

 counjy highway. 



Commissioner Ely has accepted the mile 

 of st;ite reward road which has been built 

 in Orleans township, Ionia county, running 

 from Orleans Center east. 



Road commissioners of Houghton County 

 ?.re constructing four miles of 15-foot maca- 

 dam road on the Hancock-Calumet highway 

 between Mesnard and Osceola. 



The deputy state highway commissioner has 

 inspected and approved one mile of gravel road 

 just built by Chikanning Township, Berrien 

 county. The road is pronounced first-class. 



Supervisor H. T. Bohnett of Oshtemo report- 

 ed that the farmers in that section, will haul 

 plenty of stone for the Main street road during 

 the winter, which will be crushed in the spring. 



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Plan? for road work in the vicinity of Kala- 

 mazoo which will be taken up in the spring, 

 were submitted at the December meeting of 

 the good roads commission, and as soon as the 

 construction work in progress can be put in 

 shape, the road gangs will quit for the winter. 

 The plan adopted will be submitted to the 

 Kalamazoo supervisors at the January meeting. 



Commissioner Ely and Deputy Highway 

 Commissioner Rogers both strenuously take 

 issue with the good roads recommendations 

 made by Governor Osborn in his message, at 

 the same time favoring his recommendation 

 for the use of state convicts in constructing 

 roads. 



The points at issue are the governor's favor- 

 ing state supervision of roads and the con- 

 struction of trunk lines touching each of the 

 county seats. Both of the highway officials 

 declare that the county road system should 

 continue and also that it is far better to con- 

 struct roads leading to the important market 

 places than it is to have them lead to the 

 county seats. 



ASK INCREASED APPROPRIATION. 



State Highway Commissioner T. A. Ely will 

 ask the legislature for an appropriation of 

 $250.000 annually for the two year- to conduct 

 the highway department and provide for state 

 rewards on good roads. 



The last appropriation was for $150.000 an- 

 nually, and the work of the department con- 

 sumed the entire amount and the balance re- 

 maining in the treasury when Commissioner 

 Ely \v;-s appointed was but 57.000. 



About 300 miles of state award road was 

 built during the last fiscal year, and already 

 applications are on file for 250 miles for the 

 coming year, and it is estimated that the full 

 amount of the appropriation asked for will be 

 necessary to provide for the natural growth 

 of the business of the department for the next 

 two years. 



Mr. Ely attended a farmers' institute at 

 Ithaca which was attended by several hundred 

 farmers, all of whom were enthusiastic 

 the state award good roads scheme, and the 

 indications are that if the idea continues to 

 ijrow during the next two years as it has in 

 the last two. the department will still have 

 unfilled applications on hand at the end of its 

 biennial term. 



CONCRETE ROAD EXPERIMENTS. 

 The Wayne County Road Commission have 

 received some valuable confirmation of the 

 merit of the concrete roads they are building, 

 says County Road Commissioner Edward X. 

 Hines. A little ever a year and a half ago 

 the state of Ohio built an experimental sec- 

 tion of road near the City of Columbus, giv- 

 ing each of the materials tested a section 400 

 feet long with a roadway 16 feet wide, the 

 sections being connected and forming a con- 

 tinuous road, all parts receiving very nearly 

 the same amount of travel. Seventeen differ- 

 ent types of read were built. In the construc- 

 tion of the road arrangements were made with 

 a contractor to do the work on a force ac- 

 ccunt. allowing him 5% of the pay roll for the 

 use of his outfit and his own services. The 

 Highway Department paid for all labor and 

 materials required in the work, but stipulated 

 that each firm should furnish an expert to su- 

 perintend its particular section, in order that 

 the work should be constructed exactly ac- 

 cording to the manufacturer's ideas. 



Among the sections of road so built was 

 one of gravel concrete. The concrete used in 

 this section was made from unscreened pit 

 gravel and Portland cement in the proportion 

 of one barrel of cement per cubic yard of con- 

 crete. It was mixed wet. placed on the road 

 six inches thick, and the surface was formed 

 by dragging a template over it. The work 

 was made without expansion joints, and is in 

 reality a slab six inches thick, 6 feet wide and 

 400 feet long. After its construction. Commis- 

 sioner Wondus said, in substance: "It pre- 

 sents a smooth, hard, dustless surface, which 

 gives indication of great durability. During 

 the cold weather of December, 909. trans- 

 verse cracks developed at irregular intervals, 

 due to contraction of the concrete. Xo longi- 

 tudinal racks have developed." 



Commissioner Wondus has recently issued 

 another bulletin on the condition and the 

 amount of wear which has taken place on all 

 the experimental sections, 'and has this to say 

 concerning the gravel concrete: "This sec- 

 tion (the gravel concrete) is in good condi- 

 tion and shows but very little signs of wear. 

 The surface is sufficiently rough to afford a 

 good footing for houses. The transverse 

 cracks that developed last winter do not up to 

 this time show any greater wear than the 

 other parts of the road, the cracks showing 

 only as lines across the surface. This section 

 is dustless, and is one of the most ilnterest- 



ing of these experiments." In order to pro- 

 vide a record of wear on the different sec- 

 tions, levels were taken over the road soon 

 after the completion of the work. The points 

 at which the levels were taken were carefully 

 located, so that it is possible to ascertain the 

 amount of wear by re-leveling at any time. 

 Readings were taken on the center line at 

 four feet east and west of the centers at five 

 stations on each section, making a total of 25 

 readings. 



The road was re-leveled a little over a year 

 after its construction, and a table was com- 

 piled showing the wear in hundredths of a 

 foot, the amount being the average at five 

 points in each section. On the concrete sec- 

 tion absolutely no wear was shown at the 

 center: four feet east, eight feet east and four 

 feet west of the center and eight feet west of 

 the center, .01 feet wear is shown. 



The concrete made by far the best showing 

 of any material used; some of the other sec- 

 tions showing as high as .09 feet, but none of 

 them came anywhere near approximating that 

 of the concrete. We believe this showing 

 upholds our contention as to value of concrete 

 for road-making purposes, and especially in 

 view of the fact that the concrete roads being 

 built by the Wayne County Road Commis- 

 sion are made thicker, a better grade of stone 

 is used, and a richer mix o_f cement, which 

 coupled with the expansion joints_ and many 

 other small details of construction, should 

 produce an even more durable and better type 

 of road than was built in this experiment. 



The section built of Kentucky Rock As- 

 phalt is quoted as follows by Commissioner 

 Wondus: 



"At the present time it is in as fine condi- 

 tion as the best sheet asphalt pavement, and 

 it is in a better condition than when first con- 

 structed." Some of the sections are reported 

 as practically valueless. The Wayne County 

 Road Commission have a one-half mile of rock 

 asphalt built on Jefferson Road, starting at the 

 \Veir Road going toward Macqmb County, 

 which also bears out the experience of the 

 Columbus experiment. 



During the year 1910 the Michigan Central 

 Railroad hauled over its Mackinaw division 

 153.749.580 feet of saw logs, an increase of 

 4.304.770 feet over the quantity hauled in 

 1909. Since 1880 this road has hauled over the 

 Mackinaw division a grand total of 3,812,043,- 

 269 feet of saw logs. 



