4 BULLETIN 463, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 
pleasure, and the degree of pleasure experienced in driving is largely 
dependent upon the scenic attractiveness of the road. 
7. Plan to avoid the necessity for subsequent changes in location. 
Such changes nearly always work hardship on some of those who 
have built homes along the road. 
The actual procedure of laying out a road should be controlled 
very largely by the lay of the land which the road is to traverse. 
Where the country is comparatively level, for example, practically 
the whole problem, aside from proper drainage, may be to determine 
a reasonable balance between the desire to avoid unnecessary damage 
to farming land and the purpose to secure a reasonably direct route 
over good ground. 
One of the most common problems in laying out a road in level 
country is to decide between continuing a circuitous route around 
cultivated fields or along rectangular land lines, and estabishing a 
new diagonal route across the fields. Tables 1 and 2. showing, 
respectively, the area in acres occupied per mile by roadways of 
various width, with other relevant data, and the diagonal distances 
across rectangles of various lengths and breadths may be of some 
assistance in these cases. 
Table 1. — Areas occupied by roadways of various v;idths and cubic yards of 
surfacing material required for 1 inch loose depth. 
Cubic 
Cubic 
yards of 
yards of 
Area 
Area 
surfacing 
material 
Area 
Aiea 
surfacing 
material 
Width of roadwav 
in acres 
yards 
per mile 
of length. 
required 
Width of roadwav 
m acres 
required 
in feet. 
per mile 
for each 1 
in feet. 
per mile i 'r^-L 
ofle ^ h - oTferfgth. 
for each 1 
of length. 
inch loose 
depth 
inch loose 
depth 
per mile 
per mile 
I of length. 
of length. 
8 
0.97 
4.693.3 • 130.3 
30 
3.63 17.599.9 
488.7 
1 21 
5 866 6 16 9 9 
36 . 
4.35 21.120.0 
12 
1.45 
7.040.0 195.5 
40 
4.84 23.466.4 
1 93 
9, 386. 6 260. 6 
11 733 3 325 8 
50 
6.05 29.333.3 
20 
24 
2 42 
60 
7.26 35,199.6 
2.90 
14.0S0.0 390.9 
Table 2. — Lengths of diagonals in miles for rectangles of various length* and 
breadths. 
Breadth of rectangles. 
Length of rectangle. 
1 mile. 
A mile. 
£ mile. 
1 mile. 
11 
miles. 
miles. 
miles. 
2 miles. 
0. 353 
. 559 
.789 
1.037 
1.274 
1.520 
1.768 
2.015 
0. 559 
.707 
.901 
1.118 
1.346 
1.581 
1.820 
2.061 
0.790 
.901 
1.060 
1.250 
1.459 
1.676 
1.904 
2.136 
1.031 
1.118 
1.251 
1.416 
1.600 
1.802 
2. 015 
2.236 
1.274 
1.346 
1. 457 
1.607 
1.767 
1.952 
2.150 
2.356 
1.520 
1.581 
1.677 
1.802 
1.952 
2.121 
2.304 
2.500 
1.767 
1.820 
1.904 
2.015 
2.150 
2.304 
2.475 
2.657 
2.015 
2.061 
2.135 
2.236 
2.358 
2.500 
2.657 
2.828 
