A private driveway on an estate in Glencoe, Ill. Jens Jensen, landscape architect. In flat, dry locations careful “crowning,” without gutters, 
is all that is necessary 
Road Making on the Country Place 
THE HOW AND THE WHY OF ROAD MAKING AND ROAD MAINTENANCE- 
NEW METHODS MADE NECESSARY WITH THE COMING OF THE AUTOMOBILE 
by T. E. Whittlesey 
Photographs by Henry Fuerman and others 
T WO generations ago a Scotch engineer, Mac A'dam by 
name, taught the British to build their roads with a “dry 
cellar and a tight roof,” and his name in consequence has ever 
since been a part of the nomenclature of the science he founded. 
For sixty years MacAdam’s roads represented practically the 
last ideal of highway builders, and even now most of our roads 
are built to his specifications, with a foundation of broken stone 
surfaced with fine stone chips and cemented together to a firm and 
smooth surface by the bonding power of sifting dust, wet down 
and rolled in. 
For the private driveway a 
less width and a thinner wear¬ 
ing surface will be required 
than for the public highway. 
Eight feet is sufficient width if 
the driveway is short, or twelve 
feet where it is necessary to 
provide for the passing of ordi¬ 
nary vehicles. As to the depth 
of the macadam, six inches is 
usually considered a minimum 
for a highway, but four inches 
would suffice for a private 
driveway. 
Drainage is always the first 
essential to be provided, yet it is far too frequently left out of 
the amateur road maker’s calculations. If the road is to be 
built upon a level dry footing, shallow side gutters will, if kept 
clear of sand and leaves, usually suffice to drain the crowned 
driveway. If the location is a damp one or on a side hill, these 
gutters should be dug four or five feet deep and filled with 
coarse stone, a layer of hay or brush and a top dressing of dirt. 
The fibrous layer is to keep the earth from settling in among the 
stones and stopping the drain. If it becomes necessary to carry 
a drain across the road, do it 
by means of a concrete or 
sewer-pipe culvert, never with 
a surface gutter. 
Everyone knows that a well 
made road should be “crown¬ 
ed,” with its cross-section 
having a fiat curve that drops 
about three-quarters of an 
inch to the foot from center 
to gutters. This crown is 
maintained by the use of a 
road scraper or a “King 
drag” — consisting of a pair 
of heavy planks that are 
drawn by chains fastened to 
Oak Avenue, River Forest, Ill., an example of modern tarviated 
macadam 
( 30 ) 
