f 
20 
RURAL ROADS, WITH SPECIAL 
REFERENCE TO MODERN REQUIREMENTS. 
In Volume 37 of this Journal, published in 1876, appears 
a most admirable and instructive paper by Mr. W. H. Wheeler, 
M. Inst. C.E., which deals with the history of roadmaking 
and the manner in which roads should be constructed and 
maintained. The greater part of that paper is of permanent 
value and is applicable to the conditions of to-day with unabated 
force, and it would be difficult to improve upon the excellent 
suggestions it contains. 
During the last thirty years, however, the advent of the 
bicycle and motor car has led to a great revival of the interest 
in roads, and the public mind is now greatly bent on questions 
regarding them. The time therefore appears to be opportune 
for a restatement of some long-established truths, which unfor- 
tunately are too little regarded ; and for a brief review of new 
conditions affecting the art of roadmaking. 
Roads have fittingly been regarded as a symbol or measure 
of the civilisation of the country in which they are found. 
According to the Abbe Renel, if the community is stagnant 
the condition of the roads will indicate the fact. If they 
have no roads they are savages. Adam Smith asserted that 
“ the construction of roads is the greatest of all improvements,” 
and Ruskin said : “ All social progress resolves itself into 
the making of new roads.” From this point of view the 
people of the United Kingdom, have little cause for congratu- 
lation ; as, although the main truths regarding roadmaking were 
enunciated and demonstrated by Telford and Macadam in the 
beginning of the nineteenth century, they have been to a great 
extent ignored in the British Islands, especially since the 
introduction of railways, and, as a consequence, many of our 
roads are narrow, crooked, weak, and bad. 
Central Control of Main Roads. 
In France, the magnificent national department of “ Les 
Ponts et Chaussees ” was definitely established in 1712 ; but it 
did not hesitate to profit from the teachings of Macadam in 
1830, and from that time the principal highways in France, 
then badly maintained, though well constructed according 
to a system apparently combining the best ideas of Telford 
and Macadam, have been the best in the world. The space 
now available does, not allow of a detailed description of the 
admirable organisation by which the State practically controls 
the administration of all the important roads in France, including 
23,820 miles of National Roads ; but the system is worthy of 
careful study as it secures efficiency, economy, and general 
satisfaction. 
