Chapter 8 - Country Roads And Roadside Improvements

Conditions necessary for good roads
Broken stone roads.
Repairing roads
Care of roadside trees and shrubs.

It is often said that the condition of the roads in any community is an " index of the intelligence of its people "; and while this may not be wholly true, the roads are an index of their thrift and prosperity, for without good roads frequent and easy communication cannot be had, farm crops and manufactured products cannot be taken to market at the same cost on poor as on good roads, because of increased time required for transportation, and the greater wear and tear of horses and carriages. Then there is little pleasure of comfort in riding over muddy, rough, and unkept roads.

In many sections the amount of money appropriated for the construction and repair of roads is sufficient to keep them in good condition, but this money is often expended with such poor judgment as to leave a large part of the roads practically uncared for. The work, too, is often let out to parties who know nothing of the principles of road-making, or whose greatest care is to make as much profit from the work as possible.

The Conditions Necessary for a Good Road.

To construct a good road three things are necessary, viz., (1) well under drained soil, (2) a good foundation, and (3) good road material for the surface.

1. In ordinary road-making very little attention is given even to surface-draining, much less to under draining, yet nothing would improve oar roads at so small a cost as tile or stone drains under the road-bed: and no matter how good the surface material, a perfect road cannot be made without perfect drainage.  If the land is very wet and fall of springs, a line of tile on both sides of the road-bed, not less than 3½ feet below the surface, may be needed.  See Figs. 53 and 54. If the road is on a slope, the tile should be placed a little above the upper gutter to cut off all water that would flow to the surface.
   
   
2. A layer of stones from six inches to one foot in diameter, placed at a depth of two or three feet below the level of the road and well packed in at the bottom, provides good drainage for a time and makes a very solid foundation upon which to place smaller stones and a top layer of gravel six to eight inches deep. But for ordinary road-making this foundation will not be required if the surface-drainage and under drainage are well attended to.
   
3. Good materials for road-making are often difficult to obtain without considerable expense, but with the good foundation resulting from thorough drainage fairly good roads are sometimes made with poor surface material.

Broken-stone Roads.

The best material for a permanent road is undoubtedly broken stone, and it will generally be found the cheapest in the end; and next to this is clean sharp gravel with more or less small stones intermixed. To make the broken-stone road requires the investment of considerable capital in stone-crushers and heavy steam-rollers, which is beyond the means of small towns.
 
The assistance now being offered by many States to suburban districts in the construction of State roads made on the most approved principles will lead to rapid progress in. correct ideas of road-making; and the large number of bicycles now in use will furnish another incentive for further improvement.

In this volume no attempt will be made to give detailed instructions for the construction of broken-stone roads, but the discussion will be confined to the making and improving ordinary gravel roads.

Surface of the Road.

The most noticeable feature of the ordinary country road is its flatness and unevenness of surface and the little attention given to surface outline and under drainage, both of which defects can be easily remedied. A section of the ordinary road, as often seen, is shown in Fig. 61, where the shoulders are higher than the road-bed and with depressions or basins here and there, caused by settling from the weight of traffic or from the displacement by frost. Such a road will wear out rapidly where the water stands, will be un-pleasant to drive over on account of uneven surface and mud, and the worn particles of the road will not be washed out to the side, but become fine dust daring dry weather. Fig. 62 illustrates the modern macadam road with well-rounded surface and gutters; but whether the road be constructed of broken stone or not, the rounded surface and gutters are a necessity for a good road.

FIG. 61—Section Of Ordinary Country Road.

FIG. 62—Section Of Macadam Road.

The surface of the road must be made more or less crowning, according to the material used. The poorer or more loamy the material the more must it be crowned or rounded. The shoulders made by the settling of the centre of the road, and by growth of grass and washing of the fine particles from the centre, should be removed whenever they are so high as to interfere with the quick passage of the surface-water to the side gutters. Gutters or ditches must be provided along the roadsides to prevent surface-water from washing up on the road surface and to catch and carry off quickly the wash from the road. These ditches must have frequent outlets and be without basins in which the water will stand.

On hillsides frequent bars must be made, and be kept in such condition at all times that no water will run over them into the middle of the road. They should start from the middle of the road and run diagonally to each side and not diagonally across the whole road. If made as in Fig. 63 both wheels will strike the bar at once and no side jolt will be felt, while if constructed as in Fig. 64 a very unpleasant side jolt is produced and carriages are often seriously wrenched. On the upper side of a side-hill road good and frequently cleared gutters are needed to prevent washing, and also frequent culverts to carry the water across to the lower side; for if the water runs over the roadside and a long distance in the middle of the road, it often gains such momentum as to do a great amount of damage during heavy rains.

FIG. 63—A Properly Constructed Bar.

FIG. 64—An Improperly Constructed Bar.

Width of Road-bed.

The width of the road-bed as constructed by our road-makers is very variable, some making them from 15 to 20 feet, while others would make them only from 8 to 10 feet wide for the same amount of traffic. On most main roads between large towns and cities the width need not be over 18 feet wide, or only wide enough for two teams to pass readily, with rounded, sloping, well-turfed sides which will not be injured by an occasional turning out upon them, and crowning sufficiently to allow the surface-water to pass off quickly.

In less thickly settled districts a single width of road-bed, i.e., from 8 to 10 feet wide, will be as much as is needed, and will be much less expensive in construction and repairs than if made wider.

Repairing Roads.

One of the greatest mistakes made in repairing roads is in using poor material for dressing them over, when good material may be obtained at only a little additional cost.

The best gravel that is to be had within reasonable distance will generally be found the cheapest in the end.

A great mistake is often made also in spreading the repair material evenly over the whole road surface, as in Fig. 65, when one half of the material placed in the center with the shoulders of the road removed, as in Fig.  66, would give far better results.  If the material i3 put on flat, the road-bed will remain flat, or grow more and more depressed in the middle, and none of the fine-worn material can pass off, but remains to make mud and dust; while if well rounded in the centre it will retain its form for some time, the fine-worn material or dust will be washed to the outside of the road, and less trouble will be experienced with mud and dust.

FIG. 65—An Improperly Graveled Road.

FIG  66—A Properly Graveled Road.

The gravel placed in the centre of the road will work to the outside as fast as it is needed to keep the form of the road-bed, and there is scarcely ever any good reason for spreading it more than from 4 to 6 feet wide in a road-bed of a single width, or 8 to 12 feet in a double-track road.

As far as possible when dressing over a road the coarser material should be kept spread or raked forward as each succeeding load is added and well covered with the finer material.

Road-repairing should be done in the spring before the ground has become fully settled.

If the shoulders of the road are kept worked off by the road-scraper or plow, and a thin coating of gravel be put on in the centre each season, any ordinarily well under drained road can be kept in good repair at a very small cost.

Road-scrapers when properly used are great labor-savers, and in sections where ordinary soil must be used—and there are many such—they save a great amount of labor and expense. Where the unworn material on the edges can be used to advantage, or for the purpose of breaking off the shoulders, the rounding of the surface of the road in the spring, the road-scraper will do the work quickly and thoroughly, but to use it during the summer for any other purpose than for scraping off the worn material will result in more harm than good.

The practice of turnpiking or scraping poor material, like turf and loam, into the middle of the road during the summer will largely account for the poor condition of many of our roads.

All turf turned up by the road-scraper or plow should be removed from the road-bed entirely and used for filling in over steep embankments, deep gutters, or in leveling up and otherwise improving the roadside.
 
Roadside Improvement.

In the rush and hurry to gain wealth or fame we Americans often forget everything but our immediate surroundings, and our roadsides, even in the vicinity of many well-kept residences, are in a state of utter neglect—not only this, but the roadsides are made a dumping-place for rubbish of all sorts.

It would require but little time or expense to put the roadsides in our towns and villages into a state of great beauty and neatness if all would work together in the right way. Perhaps the first and most important consideration in roadside improvement is that all shall refrain from dumping anything along the roadside, and the highway surveyor or road commissioner or agent should first set the example, and whenever trees are trimmed up or brush is cut along the roadside, or stones picked up or dug out of the road-bed, that all shall Le removed entirely from within the road boundaries. All accumulations of stone or other rubbish should be removed, so that undesirable trees, shrubs, or weeds, can be easily eradicated.

The expense of this work need not be very great, for almost everywhere there may be found pond-holes, ditches, ravines, etc., where such materials may be dumped and covered up. The next important matter is the smoothing and evening up of the surface of the roadside. Here again those in charge of the repairs of the roads should take the initiative, and all turf and loamy soil not suitable to be put on the road-surface should be used for smoothing up and making gracefully curved or sloping roadsides.

Preserve Native Trees and Shrubs.

The native trees and shrubs should next have consideration. No country possesses so many beautiful woody plants as the United States; they are generally found growing where they thrive best, and any desirable kinds found growing by the roadside that can be made to produce a proper form of growth should be preserved and improved.
The laws passed by some of our States for the protection of shade-trees, whereby it is made the privilege (it should be the " duty ") of the town or city authorities to mark such trees and shrubs as it is desirable to have preserved, and making it a criminal offence to destroy those thus marked, are steps in the right direction, and should be adopted in every State.

There is nothing which adds so much to the comfort of the travelling public as well-shaded streets, and a comparatively short time is required for our most rapid-growing trees to reach the size to afford considerable shade; but, whether we live to enjoy or see others enjoy their beauty and shade or not, we are certain that if properly planted in suitable soil more than one generation will, be benefited by them. If every landowner would trim up and care for a few trees found growing by his roadside, or plant a few each year where none are now growing, it would be but a short time before our country would be noted for the beauty of its roadways, as well as for the general comfort and beauty of the homes of its common people.

Trees found growing by our roadsides will often be of many varieties and will seldom be in so exact lines as if set out, but often more real beauty will be the result of this variety and irregularity of line and spacing.    In many cases very beautiful results will be obtained by this irregular arrangement; at many points along a roadway interesting views of extended landscapes or glimpses of water are brought to view that would be hidden if the line of trees was unbroken.    Fig. 60a shows a beautiful roadside picture.

Along almost every country road may be found young trees that have sprung up from seed planted by nature in the shelter of the stone wall or fence and hedge-rows. These trees are generally well rooted, and if allowed to grow and are given proper care as to pruning and protection while young they will make better formed, more hardy and long-lived trees than those grown in the nurseries. Should the trees have been injured by growing too closely, their form may be remedied as described in Chapter VII on " Renovating Old Places."

Fruit-trees along Roadways.

As a matter of economy fruit-trees along the roadsides are advisable, for they generally grow with great luxuriance with little care, produce large crops of fruit, and, in a measure, serve the purpose of ornamentation, but they do not give the desired shade, such as is produced by the elm, maple, oak, and other tall-growing ornamental trees, and which is one of the main objects of roadside tree-planting.

Planting Avenues.

In almost every section of our country we find beautiful avenues of shade-trees along the roadsides which have been planted by public-spirited citizens, and such avenues are grander monuments to their memory than stone or marble; but the amount of roadway thus decorated is very small as compared with that which is bare and possessed of little or no beauty. Village improvement societies, Arbor-day planting, planting-bees, etc., are doing much to encourage and increase the good work. The expense of the trees is very small, and it requires but an hour or two to obtain and plant a tree, and every landowner will find a few hours spent each year in thus adding to the beauty of his surroundings often the most profitable hours of his life, adding to the value of his property and building a monument that shall stand long after his face has been forgotten.

Ornamental Shrubs and Flowering Plants along the Roadsides.

The great variety of ornamental shrubs, vines, and plants that we find growing along our country roads, even when growing in neglect, are very beautiful features, and with a little care might be made to give as beautiful results as are often obtained on the lawn.

The planting of exotic or imported species under such conditions seems out of taste .and cannot be recommended.

Grass alone under roadside trees and shrubs unless well trimmed is not a very ornamental feature, but is necessary to a perfect finish and setting of the trees and shrubs.

If the land is smooth and free from stones and can be plowed through to the roadway, the surface can be very easily graded up and finished around the ornamental planting, but generally the smoothing and levelling must be done by the slow process of digging off the projections and filling up the depressions.

The same smoothness that we find on the lawn is not to be expected or desired, but there should always be a well-rounded gutter between the road-bed and the border.

As with trees, we find also a great many shrubs, ferns, and flowering plants already established along the roadsides, and but little care is needed to put them in condition of perfect growth. Shrubs can be more severely pruned and more quickly grown into perfect shape than trees.

This work, however, should not be left to the irresponsible road commissioner or agent, but should be in the hands of the village improvement society or some one who can be depended upon to trim out only the undesirable varieties and preserve such as are the most ornamental and of the best form.

Should the soil be very poor, a light dressing of compost or fertilizer should be used, but generally the road-wash can be so utilized as to make the best of top-dressing and produce the most perfect growth.

If we take the ornamental trees, shrubs, vines, etc., as we find them along our roadsides, we are pretty sure that the soil in which they are found is well suited to their growth, but if we transplant to fill up places not properly provided we must be sure to set out such as are suited to the soil and exposure of the place. Some species will only do well under conditions of a close tangled growth and such conditions must be provided for them, while those that only reach perfection in full exposure on all sides should be planted accordingly.

The custom in many sections of our country of regarding everything growing along the roadsides as common property will need some reform before roadside decoration can be carried out to its fullest extent, but the process of education is going on in our public parks and squares, in cemeteries and school-yards, and there has been a great improvement in the respect that our people have for public decoration, they realizing more and more the great benefit such work is to the community.

Removal of Walls and Fences.

The removal of walls and fences wherever not needed to keep stock in the pastures will do more than anything else to help on the cause of roadside improvement. Stone walls and other fences are not needed except under the conditions mentioned on a previous page. They are a great source of expense to build and keep in repair, and in many sections of the country are being removed from the roadsides and along cultivated fields. Where the land is valuable, this is an important item, as considerable areas are made available for cultivation, besides greatly improving the roadsides and reducing the number of insects and vermin that neglected roadsides harbor. If a fence is decided to be necessary along the roadway or near dwellings it should be made as inconspicuous as possible. A woven-wire fence on gas-pipe or iron-rod posts all painted green will be the least conspicuous from all points of view and in the end not more expensive.

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