Practical road building

Part I Chapter I Page

Early Roads: Babylonian, Egyptian, Persian, Carthaginian, Greek, Roman. — The Appian Way. — "Crossing the Rubicon." — The Dark Ages. — Revival of Civilization. — Highways in France Under Tresaguet. — The French Revolution. McAdam and Telford.— The Old National Road. — Modern State Aid in the United States.

Chapter II

Agricultural, Residential, and Scenic Roads. — Grouping and Blending. — Accessibility. — Expense. — Connection of Grade and Location. — Permanent Economy. — Enhanced Values. — Through Routes. — Line of Sight. — Permanency and Value of Correct Location.

Chapter III

Maximum and Minimum. — Tractive Power. — Direction of Loads. — Relation to Surface. — Curves. — Road Bed. — Excavation and Fill. — Side Slopes. — Well-balanced Equipment. — Economic Working.

IV CONTENTS

CHAPTER IV page

Surface Water. — Crown of Road. — Shoulders. — Side Ditches. — Storm Water. — Culverts. — Back Ditches. — Sub-drainage. — Climatic Conditions. — Soils. — Concrete and Vitrified Pipe. — Drain Grades. — Outlets.

CHAPTER V Road Foundations 88

Natural and Artificial. — Distribution of Pressure. — Carrying Capacity. — Gravels. — Rocks. — Different Earths. — Quicksand. — Sinkholes. — Muck. — Swamps. — ■ Gettysburg Roads. — Telford. — Concrete. — Old Macadam. — Bituminous Concrete.

Chapter VI

Grade and Traction Power. — Asphaltic Coating. — Steel Tire and Automobile Effects. — Replacement. — Relation of Cost of Repairs and Renewal. — Dust Suppression. — Experiments. — Water Sprinkling. — Oils and Tars. — Hot and Cold Asphaltic Oils. — Experimental Cost Table.

Chapter VII

Flow of Water. — Size of Waterway. — Pipe, Box and Arch Culverts. — Collapsible Forms. — Face and Wing Walls. — Stone Arch Bridges. — Wood, Iron, Steel, and Concrete. — Standard Sizes. — Long Spans. — Short-span Concrete. — Floors. — Bridge Foundations.

CHAPTER VIII Traffic Census in France. — England. — Massachusetts

CONTENTS V

PAGE

Illinois. — Classification. — Weight and Number of Vehicles. — Regulations as to Load and Width of Tire.

Chapter IX

Getting the Money. — Taxation. — Contributions. — Sinking Fund, Serial and Annuity Bonds. — Determining Comparative Cost. — Enhanced Values. — Spending the Money. — Relation of Cost of Repairs to Cost of New Improvement. — Specifications, Open, Closed, Alternate. — State and Federal Aid.

Chapter X

Importance of Improvement. — Width. — Crown. — Alignment. — Methods of Improving. — Time to Improve. — Grade and Crown on Curves. — Removal of Sod and Vegetation. — Preparing and Protecting Side Slopes. — Summary. — Maintenance and Repairs.

Chapter XI

Wide-spread Deposits. — Cementitious or Coated Gravel. — Washed Gravel. — Subgrade. — One and Two Courses. — Old Foundations. — Grading and Screening. — Placing. — Rolling.

CHAPTER XII Sand-clay Roads 204

Theory. — Practical Application. — Different Kinds of Clay and Sand. — Chemical Composition of Clay. — Proportions. — Building on Sand Subsoil; on Clay Subsoil. — Crown. — Maintenance. — Natural Sand-clay Mixture.

VI CONTENTS

CHAPTER XIII page

Top Soil Roads 211

Character of Suitable Top Soil. — Development. — Reversal of Accepted Principles. — Reference to University of Georgia. — Depth of Material on Road. — Method of Construction.

Chapter XIV

Tresaguet . — M c Adam . — Standard Construction for Years. — Destruction by Combined Automobile and Steel Tire Traffic— Width.— Subgrade.— Methods of Construction. — One and Two Course. — With Telford Base. — Weights and Grades of Stone. — Tables. — Repairing. — Bituminous Macadam by Penetration. — Coating. — Maintenance.

Chapter XV

Not "Cheap." — Variance in Brick. — Tests; Rattler, Absorption, Cross-breaking. — Size. — Quality. — Wire-cut-lug and Repressed. — Foundations. — Curb. — Sand Cushion. — Filler. — Expansion Joints. — Brick on Sand. — A New Departure.

Chapter XVI

Development. — One and Two Course. — Forms. — Shape and Character of Subgrade. — Proportions of Mix. — Mixing and Placing. — Finishing. — Expansion Joints. — Thickness of Concrete. — Covering. — Cracks and Treatment.

Chapter XVII

Development from Experiments. — Penetration and Mixing Methods. — Asphaltic Concrete. — Foundations

CONTENTS Vll

PAGE

for. — Mixing Plants. — Mineral Aggregate.— Heating Materials. — Spreading and Rolling. — Seal Coat. — Differences in Asphalts. — Specifications and Bids. — Guarantees.

CHAPTER XVIII Sand-asphalt Roads 281

The Cape Cod Road. — Special Construction in Florida by Hotel Proprietor. — Further Experiments. — Possible and Probable Future.

Chapter XIX

Amiesite. — Burnt Clay. — Hassam. — Shells. — Other Types with Which Local Experiments Have Been Made. — Variety of Inventions.

ILLUSTRATIONS

IGURE PAGE

1 . Road Winding Among the Hills 35

2. Road Cut Into Base of Mountain 41

3. Practical and Simple Method of Establishing a Curve 45

4. A Long Side-hill Grade in Ohio 55

5. Method of Determining the Grade of a Road 57

6. Loose Stone Under-drains Below Side Ditches 71

7. Roadway Drains Itself 72

8. Culvert Under Side-hill Road 72

9. Plan of Drainage in a Cut 73

10. Drainage Model 86

11. Stone Foundation Forming V-drain 97

12. A Concrete Bridge in Florida 141

13. Illinois Short Span Bridge 142

14. Concrete Pile and Slab Bridge 143

15. Concrete Girder Bridge 144

16. Type of ''Sectional" Bridge 145

17. Shape of Earth or Gravel Road 182

18. Well Shaped and Graded Earth Road 185

19. A Gravel Road in New York State 199

20. A Sand-clay Road in Florida 207

21. Top-soil Road in Alabama 213

22. Rolling Subgrade for Macadam 218

23. Rolling Lower Course of Stone 219

24. Completed Macadam Road (New York) 220

25. Completed Macadam Road (Ohio) 221

26. Brick Road in Florida 239

ILLUSTRATIONS :gurb page

27. Brick Road in Ohio 242

28. Depositing Concrete on Road 252

29. Finishing Concrete Road Surface 253

30. Completed Concrete Road 254

31. Portable Asphalt Plant 267

32. Dumping and Spreading Asphaltic Concrete 268

33. Applying Seal Coat with Machine 269

34. Covering Seal Coat . . . '. 270

35. Chevy Chase Road (Asphaltic Concrete) 271

36. Laying Sand Asphalt 282

37. Sand Asphalt Road 283

38. Amiesite State Road in Pennsylvania 287

39. Preparing for Burnt Clay Road 289

40. Shell Road in Louisiana 293

Preface

The call for a book on "Practical Road Building" reached the author from a variety of different sources during the past three or four years. The most impressive of these came from personal experiences when delivering lectures in various sections of the country on "Highway Construction/ 7 "Highway Bonds," "Road Materials/ 7 and other phases of the Road Industry, when farmers, bankers, merchants, local officials, local capitalists, local producers, and local vendors submitted questions readily answerable except for the limit of time.

"Where can the information be obtained in concrete and intelligible form?" was the final question. And as it could not be answered, this volume is intended to meet the requirements.

The Federal Office of Public Roads and Rural Engineering readily supplies information concerning any detail. A number of technical works on Highway Engineering are of the highest excellence; a multitude of papers and addresses, read and delivered at various

xi

Xll PREFACE

Highway and Engineering Conventions, and the reports of various committees of technical societies, all contain information of great value, but which is unavailable to the lay reader — the average local official and the citizen • — because of their technical character and form of expression.

In this volume the fullest possible use has been made of all such technical information as would fit the conditions, and the author desires to express his fullest appreciation and to extend the greatest possible credit to those from whose works he has abstracted information and turned it into practical and intelligible language for non-technical readers. To give the names of those whose writings have been in part appropriated would be to prepare a list of all the men prominent in the Road Industry during the last ten years; a list too long for these pages.

The fact that the great State and Federal appropriations for improved roads will apply mostly to main roads, which will be in charge of presumably competent highway engineers, does not alter the fact that fully 80 per cent, of the roads of the country will for many years remain in the hands of local officials and be subject, to the influences of local necessities and local sentiment. While many engineers may gain knowledge and information from these pages by careful study, the primary purpose of the author has been to present a work

PREFACE Xlll

which will give full information to the reader who wants it presented in plain language without technicalities.

The closing months of 1916 emphasized the necessity for road improvement in the United States more forcibly than any other period during two generations of men. The cost of primary marketing ; the difficulties of prompt transportation, and the excessive prices at points of consumption have made a community of interest between the producer and ultimate consumer which should go far to show their interdependence on each other, and their mutual interest in the reduction of primary transportation expense by means of improved highways.

The destinies of the Nation depend on the conservation of its resources. In no one direction in the past has there been more waste than that caused by bad roads. If the information presented in these pages shall to any considerable extent add to the intelligent extension of country road building with the consequent advantages to the communities, States, and Nation, the author will consider that the work involved in its preparation has been of value to the people of the country.

Chas. E. Foote.

New York, January 1, 1917.

Foreword

ROADS AND THE ROAD USER

With over 3,500,000 automobiles in use in the United States, or an average of 1 for every 29 people, it is only natural that there should be the widest interest among motorists in the improvement, construction, and maintenance of public highways. It is altogether probable that the ultimate number of automobiles will be double the number now in use.

It is estimated that the investment in automobiles now is $3,000,000,000, and that the ultimate investment will be $6,000,000,000. It has been estimated that the average distance that each automobile is driven yearly is 4000 miles, which would make the staggering total of over 14,000,000,000 car miles every twelve months, with an ultimate of probably 28,000,000,000 car miles. The average annual cost of operating an automobile is $250, which would make a total annual operating charge of $878,000,000, or an ultimate of $1,757,000,000.

XVI FOREWORD

In view of these figures, it is not astonishing that the average motorist should appreciate the necessity of larger expenditures than ever before for road improvements.

Road improvement is as necessary, from the standpoint of the motorist, as gasoline, oil, tires, and car repairs. A certain part of such cost must be assumed in computing automobile expense. Improper construction and inadequate maintenance are not only a source of annoyance and inconvenience to the motorist, but are just as much a source of expense as a poor quality of gasoline or improperly built tires.

The motorist constantly passes over city and township lines, goes from one municipal subdivision to another, so he desires smoothly paved city and village streets as well as improved country roads. The preponderating percentage of good roads are built — In Cities, through their departments of public works, In Parks, by the commissioners in charge, In Villages, by local street commissioners, In Townships, by township boards and highway commissioners, In Counties, by county commissioners, or supervisors, In States, through state highway commissioners, In the Nation, pursuant to the recently enacted Federal Aid Road Act.

FOREWORD XV11

The improvement of city streets and park boulevards are of ever-increasing importance, yet the greatest mileage of through-roads must be constructed in the rural localities in whole or in part by the four political subdivisions, viz.: the Town, County, State, and Nation.

The permanent roads outside of cities and villages in New York State, upon the completion of the proposed systems, will represent a capital investment of $300,000,000, or about equal to the amount invested in automobiles. There are 80,000 miles of highway in that commonwealth, so the average capital investment is about $3750 per mile of highway.

There are approximately 2,000,000 miles of highway in the United States. At $3750 per mile, this would represent a capital investment of $7,500,000,000. The ultimate value of automobiles will be upward of $6,000,000,000.

The maintenance, reconstruction, and upkeep will represent possibly 5 per cent, of the capital on $375,000,000, about one-quarter of the ultimate automobile operating charge.

The preparation of road plans, the selection of types of construction, and the various details must be determined by competent highway engineers, appointed on merit and assured of a reasonable tenure in office.

All of the several types of road described in this

XV111 FOREWOKD

volume have their place in one or another of the classes of improvement. There is no type of road which is applicable to all classes, and any work which adds to the popular knowledge of this subject is of value. It is with tins purpose that the American Automobile Association endorses this volume, which presents many interesting road matters in a form to be appreciated by the average motorist.

George C. Diehl, Chairman A. A. A. Good Roads Board. Washington, D. C, May, 1917.

FOREWORD

The title of this book, "Practical Road Building," carries with it the author's purpose. Not a technical treatise for engineers or scientists, and yet an engineering book for the road builder who is called upon to build and who must build, and at once, with but little if any scientific education himself or the means of its employment. And yet also a book full of valuable practical information for the engineer himself, and stated in common-sense language devoid of hair-splitting, technical nomenclature.

There are many thousands of road officials in our small towns, villages, townships, and counties who will find it easy of reading and understanding and valuable in its shortness, simplicity, and directness of statement and purpose. It appeals more directly to the practical lay mind, and yet has great value to the average engi-

XX FOREWORD

neer as well. The author, Mr. Charles E. Foote, has for many years devoted himself to the practical side of road improvement. He is well qualified by his knowledge and experience as a writer to set forth the subject from its practical viewpoint.

In appreciation of the wide general value of such treatment of the subject the National Highways Association has endorsed this volume as the first of a series. Others on "Road Machinery'* and "Highway Materials" will follow, largely through the interest and cooperation of David McKay, the publisher, whose exceptional facilities for their distribution should give this volume, and those following, a large National audience. This is the hope and wish of the National Highways Association.

Charles Henry Davis, C. E., President National Highways Association.

PART I

Chapter I

The most insistent demand made by civilization at the beginning of the twentieth century is for better means of communication; that communities and peoples may keep in closer touch with one another; that commerce may become more and more liquefied; that social and moral welfare may be enhanced, and that the people, by reason of this closer contact with each other, may keep up with the spirit of the age in culture and righteousness and wealth. To accomplish these ends requires the improvement of the public highways.

From the beginning of civilization history makes frequent mention of the building of roads, and in some instances modern excavations have disclosed the existence of great highways which the historians have overlooked. As nearly as may be ascertained those ancient highways were built for military purposes; for the more rapid movement of armies and the transportation of munitions of war; but they served the purpose, also, of channels of commercial and social communication and in this manner aided in the world's intellectual development.

Nearly four thousand years ago the city of Ancient Babylon, the city made famous by the biblical story of Belshazzar and the handwriting on the wall, built a road to Nineveh, a distance of nearly 400 miles. The road was broad and well graded, and was paved with brick set in a mortar of asphalt. Sections of this road are still found, buried under the accumulations of centuries, when the tools of the archaeologist bring them once more to the light of day.

In Egypt, near the Great Pyramids of Gizeh, have been found the ruins of a great highway, or causeway, more than a mile long. Herodotus mentions that the great King Cheops built such a road for the transportation of materials used in building the Pyramids. He states that the road required the work of 100,000 men for a period of ten years. It is probable that the ruins recently discovered are a part of the same highway. It was built of stone blocks some of which are 10 feet thick. Temples, parks, statues, and mausoleums were placed along its sides.

The Persians had a system of military highways which extended for long distances throughout that country. They maintained a post or messenger service, with stations 18 to 25 miles apart, where messengers would exchange their tired horses for fresh ones. In this way a speed often reaching more than 100 miles a day was secured.

According to the historian Strabo, there were two great roads extending between Syria and Babylon. One of these was much more popular than the other because of the fact that less toll was charged.

In ancient Greece much attention was devoted to the subject of highways by the Senate at Athens and the authorities of Thebes and ' Lacedeemon. Highways were maintained to the Pirseus and to the sacred shrines.

An interesting story comes down in the history of Thebes. It appears that Epaminondas, one of the greatest of Theban generals, had failed to capture Corinth; and as a result had been visited with the indignation and contempt of the populace. In order to express more completely their sentiments toward him they elected him to the office of "cleaner of streets/', which office at that period was the lowest and most despised of any occupation in that city.

As the story goes, Epaminondas accepted the situation gracefully, and turned his attention to cleaning the streets of Thebes. By virtue of his great ability and his trained mind he made Thebes the cleanest and most beautifully kept city in the world, until its cleanliness became proverbial, and was noted in the literature of the times. "As clean as Thebes" is still a proverb noted in the early Greek classics. Then the office of Cleaner of Streets became the highest office within the gift of the people, and citizens of the highest standing and culture aspired to it.

Most historians, in commenting on the great Roman roads, intimate that the art of road building was learned by the Romans during the long series of wars with Carthage. It is known that the Carthagenians had a great system of highways, which, together with their communication by sea, enabled them to withstand the alternate assaults of Greece and Rome for several centuries. For nearly four hundred years Carthage sustained long and bloody wars. It fell about 146 b. c, and about all that can be found today of its ancient civilization is the ruins of some most excellently built highways.

In its conquest of the world Rome built twenty-nine great highways radiating from the Eternal City into the various provinces. It seems to have been the policy, as soon as a section or country was conquered, to connect it with Rome by a great highway, over which troops could be moved with celerity and over which the tribute, which Rome always demanded, could be carried to the Capital.

One of the most famous of these roads is still known as the "Appian Way." It was begun by Appius Claudius about 312 b. c. and was first built to Capua, about 142 miles. Later it was continued to Brundisium — now Brindisi — making its total length approximately 360 miles. It is supposed to have been completed during the reign of Julius Caesar. The Roman roads were of very heavy construction, and similar roads today in the United States would cost approximately $245,000 per mile.

We learned in our early Latin studies that when Caesar started out with his legions for the conquest of Gaul he "crossed the Rubicon" and "burned his bridges behind him." These facts have been paraded to an admiring world for twenty centuries as the highest possible examples of patriotism and determination. They have carried the idea that there was no possibility of turning back, and that the means of retreat had been destroyed, that such a temptation should not occur.

Yet, when we study the progress of that campaign of conquest through France and Belgium and into Britain the fact is borne in on us that Caesar must have been making what would now be called a "grand-stand play," or perhaps "playing to the galleries," because, as a matter of fact, Caesar had among his forces a set of the most expert bridge builders in the then known world.

Specimens of their handiwork are still extant in structures of masonry which are still doing service on the highways of France and Britain, where great roads were built by the invading Roman hosts.

It seems very probable that none of the ancients really appreciated the commercial value of their highways. The periods were periods of wars and military operations, and the transportation of troops and supplies was the paramount necessity. This aspect is confirmed by the fact that after the fall of Rome, and during that period of history known as the "Dark Ages" extending down to the ninth or tenth century, when practically all Europe relapsed into feudalism, thousands of miles of highways were destroyed and bridges torn down, because of the fact that they would furnish easier access by enemies. Such civilization as there was seems to have found its expression in architecture, in the construction of great castles, and in making them impregnable. Commerce on land, such as there was of it, was mostly carried on on the backs of horses.

By reason of these conditions the association of peoples with each other became restricted. Education languished and in many regions disappeared, except among the religious orders and in some of the most highly cultivated families. Many kings and princes of those times could neither read nor write.

Road building, that is, the building of good roads, did not soon begin after the human mind had begun to throw off the shackles of isolation, and the people again began to form combinations for mutual advantage, which combinations finally resolved themselves into more or less stable governments. Roads were just what the people of localities made them. In the seventeenth century England passed a law authorizing the seizure of land along a highway for the use of travelers when the road became so deep as to be impassable. Contemporaneous history states that the roads of England at that day were worn into great trenches, sometimes 4 feet deep, in which the water settled after rains. At about the same period laws were enacted requiring that the forests be cleared from each side of the road to a distance of 200 feet, so as to prevent surprises to travelers by the highwaymen and brigands who at that time had become a menace to travel.

The building of improved highways, as the term is understood today, began about 150 years ago in France. In 1764 a provincial engineer named Tresaguet, of Limoges, who had made a local reputation by building roads of broken stone, was called to Paris by King Louis XIV to explain his system. He was then appointed by the king to the position of Assistant Inspector General of the Department of Public Works, in charge of roads and bridges, and began the construction of a system of King's Highways in France.

In the year 1776, when the American colonies were declaring their independence, France adopted as a National Highway System the roads previously built, and those to be built between the city of Paris and the principal cities of the various provinces or departments of the country. The work of construction continued until about 1790, when 15,000 miles of stone roads had been completed.

For probably one hundred years before the appearance of Tresaguet spasmodic efforts had been made at improving the King's Highways. Several prime ministers, including Richelieu, the "Great Cardinal/' had made efforts in that direction. Most of the labor, both before and during the administration of Tresaguet, was forced labor, levied upon the peasantry. Some historians consider this one of the contributing causes of the French Revolution, known as the bloodiest tragedy of history.

Studying the question from a broader and deeper and more comprehensive standpoint, it seems that it was the facility of communication offered by these highways that made the Revolution possible. For hundreds of years the peasantry of France had been ground under the heel of despotism. By reason of the isolation of the various sections from each other there

A SKETCH OP ROAD HISTORY 19

could be no common thought or expression. The people were sent to work on the roads or drafted into the army at the pleasure of their royal masters.

While the great highways were built for the primary purpose of moving troops and supplies, they also afforded the means of communication between the people of the different parts of the kingdom, and permitted the development of that irresistible sentiment which caused the population to rise and move, like a steadily growing avalanche, on to the capital where the great tragedy culminated.

Later, Napoleon Bonaparte extended the system of highways, and had cross-roads built. He also put in operation a system of maintaining the roads by putting a patrolman on every 5 or 6 miles, and placing materials along the roadside, so that any defect in the road surface could be treated without delay. This system still prevails, and has been incorporated into the highway systems of most of the countries of Europe and into those of several States of the Union.

The elaboration of the Road System of France by Napoleon, primarily for war purposes, had effects which ■ may not have been contemplated by him. With the National Highways, the Departmental Highways, and the Communal Highways surfaced with stone, the peasantry became rich — the richest class per capita of any farming people on the face of the earth. Education and knowledge spread, and the people were brought into closer communication with each other.

Then came the downfall of monarchy in France. Is it not fair to assume that the downfall was due to the roads which permitted the free interchange of thought throughout the country? That the highways which had been designed as an aid to national defense and offense became also the channels to material wealth, and to that higher intelligence which makes absolutism in government impossible?

French roads are today considered the best in the world, and its systems are the patterns for the road builders of all countries. But the governmental principles under which they were designed have been found wanting in the inexorable evolution of time.

English roads continued in very bad condition from earliest historical periods until the appearance of Telford in the South of England and in Wales, and McAdam in the North of England, about 1815. Telford's plan was to take field stones, set them on edge with the pointed end up, then break off the points with a sledge, and drive the pieces down as wedges to hold the stone firmly. On top of this was placed a layer of broken stone for a wearing surface. This class of foundation is still much used in making road foundations, especially where the ground is low or marshy. McAdam's plan was the original form of what is still known as the macadam road. It was made of broken stone, which the traffic would pack down. When the surfaces of the stones would crumble or be broken off into small particles or into dust, the rains would wash the smaller particles into the interstices, and further traffic would hold them there, and thus a smooth, even, hard surface was produced. This method was practically identical with that of Tresaguet of fifty years previous.

Early efforts to build roads in the United States met with little encouragement. The first road law enacted in the colonies, so far as can be ascertained, was by Virginia in 1632. The "New England Path/' between Boston and Plymouth, was begun in 1639. The Province of New York enacted laws regulating the building of roads in 1664, and in 1666 Maryland passed a road law. In 1692 Pennsylvania enacted a law placing the control of the roads in the hands of township officials. This was changed to county control in 1700.

But little seems to have been done with the roads for nearly a century, or until after the close of the Revolutionary War. The larger cities were all at the seaboard, and most of the cultivated farms were along or near water-courses which could be used for such transportation of agricultural products as was found necessary.

Within a few years after the independence of the

22 PKACTICAL ROAD BUILDING

colonies, and the formation of stable government for the union of States, the necessity for highways became insistent. In 1786 Virginia authorized the construction of a highway across the Cumberland Mountains into Kentucky for the accommodation of the trade of those who had settled and were settling that territory; and when Kentucky became a State in 1792 one of the very early acts of its legislature was to provide for the continuation of the highway in the new commonwealth.

In 1794 was started what is supposed to have been the first broken stone road in the United States— the Philadelphia and Lancaster Turnpike, in Pennsylvania. It was built as a toll road by private capital, and to this day most if not all of the road still collects toll from those who pass over it.