ROADS 



215 



and marks so that teams will not travel in the same place. 

 When ruts are formed on the road they hold water, wheels 

 running in these ruts carry out the soft material and permit 

 the water to penetrate deeper, and in time the wheel goes 

 through the puddled surface of the road covering and the 

 road becomes impassable. If these ruts are not permitted 

 to form, water falling on the road surface and the traffic 

 tend to pack and consolidate it and place it in a water- 

 proof condition which will shed the next rain rather than 

 hold it. In road dragging the drag should be operated so 

 that all small ruts and holes are completely rilled, and the 

 surface kept smooth and sloping to the side ditches in such 

 a way that the surface water can readily run to them. When 

 a ridge is formed on either side of the roadway, or holes 

 and depressions wear in the surface which the road drag 

 will not correct, the road grader or other method should be 

 used for repair and the crown placed in such shape that 

 the road drag can again perform its work properly. 



Maintenance costs. The following table gives the cost of 

 maintaining country roads made through ordinary agri- 

 cultural land in Dodge County, Minnesota, for the year 

 1916: 



Township 



No. of Miles 

 of Road Main- 

 tained by- 

 Dragging dur- 

 ing the Year 



Ashland . . . 

 Canisteo . . . 



Ripley 



Vernon . . . . 

 Hayfield . . . 

 Wasioja . . . 

 Mantorville 

 Claremont . 

 County. . . . 



50 

 40 



58 

 50 

 53 



50 

 45 



102^/2 



Price per Mile 



per Round 



Trip 



$0 



60 

 50 



75 

 00 



75 

 75 

 55 

 70 

 72 



Average Cost 



per Mile the 



Year 



$13 

 12 



7 



7 

 12 



9 



9 



25 



26 



50 

 98 



30 

 62 



33 

 65 



83 



Planning work. In the preparation of plans the work 

 of the successive years should be kept in view and laid out 

 before the men are brought on the ground. Such number 



