ROAD BOARD 



6642 



ROANOKE 



over a number of years is decidedly 

 lower, while the dust nuisance is 

 greatly mitigated. 



The methods described do not, 

 however, spell finality. The main 

 road of the future probably will be 

 the concrete road, an entirely 

 modern method of road-construc- 

 tion, designed for heavy traffic, 

 which during the last few years 

 has made great progress in the 

 estimation of surveyors, who were 

 at first not disposed to look upon 

 it with approval. The concrete 

 road is not, as might be supposed, 

 constructed simply by excavating 

 and filling in with solid concrete, 

 but by placing on a foundation 

 of that material a continuous web 

 of steel mesh, upon which any 

 description of surface favoured by 

 individual surveyors, or necessi- 

 tated by local conditions, is placed. 



The especial merits of this type 

 of road-construction are its resili- 

 ency and long life. The U.S.A. 

 possess some 50,000 m. of con- 

 crete roads, and in England there 

 are perhaps 4,000 m. An expendi- 

 ture of 30,000,000 is foreshadowed 

 on roads in Great Britain, in- 

 cluding restoring existing routes, 

 making new ones, and the provision 

 of concrete roads at an estimated 

 cost of 5,000 per mile. The road 

 mileage in England and Wales is 

 150,692, of which 27,802 are main. 

 The upkeep in 1912cost13,398,533. 

 Roads in Scotland total 24,771 

 miles ; and in Ireland 55,562. 



CITY ROADS. The main traffic ar- 

 teries of cities are paved with as- 

 phalt, wood blocks, or granite 

 blocks, on a foundation of concrete. 

 These pavements are expensive to 

 lay, but have a long life. The 

 asphalt generally used is a natural 

 rock composed of limestone and 

 bitumen, the. latter constituting 

 one-twentieth to one-quarter of the 

 bulk. The rock is ground to 

 powder, heated, spread on the con- 

 crete foundation, and compacted 

 with hot iron rammers to a thick- 

 ness of two inches. Wood blocks 

 are eight or nine inches long, three 

 inches wide, and five inches deep. 

 The grain runs vertically in a laid 

 block. Soft woods now pre- 

 ferred as wearing more evenly 

 than hard are creosoted before 

 use. When the blocks have been 

 set, the joints are partly filled with 

 liquid pitch and then grouted to 

 the surface with cement-and-sand 

 mortar. 



Sett paving is a reversion to the 

 Roman method of surfacing, and 

 an improvement on the old- 

 fashioned cobble-stone pave. The 

 best setts are those which do not 

 chip or laminate under heavy,, 

 blows, or become very slippery 

 with wear. Specifications for setts 







9 10 



Road. Sectional diagrams showing methods of construction of standard types. 

 1. Old Macadam, graded stone on natural foundation. 2. Modern Macadam. 

 3. Granite setts. 4. Wood blocks. 5. Asphalt, with cushion layer. 6. Asphalt 

 on stone blocks. 7. Tar Macadam. 8. Continental style cobbles. 9. American 

 corduroy road, made with logs. 10. American plank and earth road. 2, 3, 4, 5, 

 7, and 8 are laid on concrete foundations 



impose small limits of variation in 

 depth and width, but allow con- 

 siderable differences in length. A 

 granite cube must not vary from 

 standard more than a quarter of an 

 inch or so in dimension. A bedding 

 layer of sand is interposed between 

 the blocks and the concrete founda- 

 tion. The joints are filled with 

 chippings and pitch. Sett paving is 

 noisy, but very durable under the 

 heaviest traffic, and is therefore 

 much used in the neighbourhood 

 of docks. Good setts can be taken 

 up and relaid several times. 



A. Williams 



Bibliography. Treatise on High- 

 wav Construction, A. T. Bvrne, 4th 

 ed. 1901; The Great North Road, 



C. G. Harper, 1901, and other works 

 by the same author ; Roman Roads 

 in Britain, T. Codrington, 1903; 

 Construction of Roads, F. Latham, 

 1903 ; Our Roman Highways, U. A. 

 Forbes and A. C. Burmester, 1904 ; 

 British Progress in Municipal Engi- 

 neering, W. H. Maxwell, 1904; The 

 King's Highway, R. Ryves, 1908 ; 

 The Stane Street, H. Belloc, 1913 ; 

 Bibliographv of Road Making and 

 Roads in the U.K., D. Ballen, 1914 ; 

 Construction of Roads, A. Law and 



D. K. Clark, new ed. 1914. 



Road Board. Department of 

 the British Government estab- 

 lished in 1909. It consisted of five 

 members, the chairman being paid 

 a salary, and its work was to con- 

 struct new roads and to improve 

 existing ones, either directly or by 

 means of grants to local authorities. 

 An income was provided by ear- 

 marking for this purpose the pro- 

 ceeds of the duties on motor spirit 

 and part of those from carriage, 

 including motor-car, licences. From 

 its inception to March 31, 1918, the 



board had received 7,566,099 and 

 had spent 4,592,656 ; in addition, 

 various schemes had been accepted, 

 including a new western approach 

 to London from Chiswick to 

 Hounslow. The outbreak of the 

 Great War checked these activities 

 and deprived it of the bulk of its 

 income. However, it continued in 

 being, working for the army 

 council, the admiralty, and the 

 ministry of munitions, in provid- 

 ing and maintaining roads, and 

 made suggestions for improve- 

 ments to be carried out on the ar- 

 rival of peace. In 1919 the board 

 was absorbed into the new minis- 

 try of transport. 



Roanne. Town of France, in the 

 dept. of Loire. It stands on the 

 left bank of the Loire, which is 

 navigable at this point, 40 m. 

 N.W. of Lyons. The church of S. 

 Fjtienne, dating from the 13th-16th 

 centuries, was rebuilt in the 19th 

 century. The hotel de ville con- 

 tains a museum of Roman an- 

 tiquities. There are spinning, 

 weaving, colour, and machinery 

 factories, and anthracite mines. 

 Roanne was known to the Romans 

 as Rodumna, and was the capital 

 of Roannais. It became important 

 in the 15th century and was a 

 duchy in 1566. In 1846 it was in- 

 undated by the Loire, much dam- 

 age being done. Pop. 36,400. 



Roanoke. River of the U.S.A. 

 Formed by the confluence of the 

 Staunton and Dan rivers, which 

 have their source in the Blue 

 Ridge, it flows generally S.E. 

 through Virginia and N. Carolina 

 to Albemarle Sound. It is, includ- 

 ing the Staunton, 450 m. in length, 



