ROADS 



741 



the one subsequently proposed by Mr Thomas 

 Hughes, where a concrete of gravel and lime is 

 employed for the foundation of the road. But 

 experience has shown that, except in the case of 

 streets with very heavy traffic. Macadam's plan of 

 employing angular pieces of stone is superior to 

 every other as a mere covering for roads, whether 

 they have an artificial foundation or not. So 

 popular at one time was the system of macadamis- 

 ing that expensively paved streets were torn up to 

 be re-formed on the new plan. The advantage 

 of angular pieces of stone is that they dovetail 

 into each other, and do not roll about like gravel. 



A few of the best metropolitan roads wliich are 

 not paved have a Concrete (q.v.) foundation with 

 a layer of broken granite on the top of it. But 

 even for the first-class macadamised roads of 

 London the more general construction is to have 

 a bottom or foundation of ' hard core ' laid upon 

 the natural surface levelled to receive it. This is 

 composed of gome cheap or waste material wliich is 

 sufficiently hard and strong, such as fragments and 

 chips of building stone and brick, or pieces of 

 broKen-up concrete, the whole layer being a foot 

 thick until it is reduced by heavy rollers to about 

 9 inches. To fill up the interstices in this bottom, 

 and to form a bed for the 'macadam,' a 5-inch 

 layer of ballast is next put down and al-o 

 compressed by rolling. The surface layer of the 

 road, consisting of rough broken granite, is then 

 laid down, first one layer 3 inches thick, and then 

 a second layer of the same thickness. Both layers 

 are separately rolled to a combined thickness of 

 4 inches, sand and water being put on the surface 

 of the upper layer beforehand. The London 

 macadamised roads over which there is a less 

 heavy traffic have a somewhat thinner 'hard core,' 

 covered with 4 inches of broken granite without a 

 ballast layer. Broken flint is sometimes used 

 instead of granite, and these second-class roads are 

 only in some instances rolled. All roads of this 

 nature should, however, be rolled. 



In some English counties where flints are abun- 

 dant the roads are made altogether of this material. 

 Large pieces say 7 inches or more across form 

 the bottom or foundation, which is 12 or 13 inches 

 thick, and above this a 6-inch layer of flints, broken 

 to the usual size of 2} to 2J inches across, fonns 

 the surface, which is not generally rolled. In some 

 of these country roads broken bricks or other hard 

 waste material are put in as a bottom layer, with 

 broken flints above. Large pieces of flint make 

 an excellent foundation for such roads ; but this 

 material is too brittle to form a good surface layer. 



The roads in many parts of Scotland and also in 

 some English counties are macadamised with some 

 variety of trap rock, such as basalt or dolerite 

 (see BASALT). These are usually called whin- 

 stones, a term also applied to some very hard sedi- 

 mentary rocks. Most of these form a good road 

 covering. In the granite districts granite is used ; 

 Guernsey granite is one of the most durable kinds 

 for heavy traffic. Hard limestone forms a very 

 smooth and pleasant road ; but many limestones 

 and most sandstones are too soft for road metal, 

 the stone for which should be tough as well as 

 hard. Greywacke rock is also used. 



The construction of paved streets is noticed 

 nnder PAVEMENT; hut we may state here that 

 experience has shown that for heavy traffic the 

 best road or street for a town is that formed of 

 asphalt, 2 inches thick, on a foundation of concrete 

 6 inches thick. Its qualities of durability and 

 cleanliness outweigh the disadvantage of its 

 slipperiness. See ASPHALT. 



It will l>e apparent from what has been said that 

 drainage is in great part secured by the plan on 

 which a road is made. What further drainage a 



road requires can in many situations be effected by 

 ditches on either side. Where this is not possible, 

 as in the case of portions situated in cuttings more 

 or less deep, proper drains require to be constructed. 

 In such circumstances a drain is either made down 

 the centre, with branch-drains from the sides run- 

 ning into it ; or drains are formed along the sides, 

 with gratings at proper intervals to take in the 

 surface-water. 



Cyclists have established a Roads Improvement 

 Association, which seeks to stimulate the local 

 authorities to keep the roads in good repair. 



See works on road-making by W. M. Gillespie (new 

 ed. 1871), Codrington (1876), Gihnore ( 1876 ), Law and 

 Clark (new ed. 1881), F. W. Simms (new ed. 1884), and 

 Threpp ( 1887 ) ; also Jusserand's Enqlish Wayfaring Life 

 in the Middle Ayes ( Eng. trans. 1888 ), and W. C. Sydney's' 

 England in the Eighteenth Centwy (1891). 



Roads in Law. Roads are included under the 

 general name of highways, a highway being defined 

 as a place over which a right of walking, riding, or 

 driving is enjoyed by the public generally. It is 

 called the King s (or Queen s) highway, because the 

 sovereign is protector of the commerce of his sub- 

 jects, and as such empowered to make regulations 

 for traffic by sea and land. Highways are of several 

 kinds footways ; foot and horse ways, sometimes 

 called bridle-paths ; pack and drift ways, used for 

 driving cattle and pack-horses ; foot, horse, and cart 

 ways, over which the public may travel with vehicles 

 of all ordinary descriptions. Navigable rivers are 

 also described as highways. Where a Right of 

 Way (q.v.) belongs not to the public generally, but 

 to the owners or occupiers of land or house property, 

 the way in question is private, not public, and the 

 right to use it is classed among Easements (q.v.). 

 A public way may exist over a place which is not 

 a thoroughfare, as, for example, a street closed at 

 one end. Highways are created by an express or 

 implied grant, whereby the owner of the land 

 dedicates it to the use of the public, by the 

 necessity of things or by act of parliament. If an 

 owner permits the public to pass and repass over 

 his land without interruption, it is presumed that 

 he intends to grant a public right or way ; he loses 

 his right to exclude the public, and the way is a 

 highway for ever, unless it should be closed by 

 a public authority under an act of parliament. 

 Public rights may be limited to a particular 

 purpose, as where the inhabitants of a parish have 

 the right to use a way in going to or coming from 

 church. If a highway be out of repair passengers 

 may go over adjacent land ; but this is a right 

 to be exercised with caution. Any obstruction 

 placed upon a public way is a Nuisance (q.v.), 

 and may be abated or removed by any person 

 aggrieved. Every part of a highway is equally 

 open to the public ; a foot passenger may walk on 

 the carriage-way, and a blind or aged person has 

 as good a legal right to be on the road as any 

 one else. But passengers must use ordinary 

 care to guard themselves against accident, and they 

 must comply with the well-known 'Rules of the 

 Road' (q.v.) a person driving must keep to the 

 left on meeting another vehicle, and to the right 

 on passing another vehicle ; and if he transgresses 

 these rules without justification he will be liable 

 for the consequences. No person is justified in 

 using a highway for any purpose, however useful, 

 which interferes with the general right of the 

 public to pass and repass. Thus it lias heen held 

 that a local authority cannot lay down tramway 

 lines so constructed as to damage the wheels of 

 carriages using the street, although the tramway 

 might be for the convenience of the public gener 

 ally. On the same principle it was held an indict- 

 able nuisance for a telegraph company to place its 

 posts on a strip of land adjoining the road. Nothing 



