Rural highways of Wisconsin

Front matter

Hibrarp

of tjje g>tate

OSHKOSH or furnish a new copy.

CHAPTER II. LOCATION OF ROADS 10-17 Location in level country 10

Location in hilly country 11

Grades 12

Effect of varying grades and road surfaces on the size

of load a horse can draw 13*

Standard grades in other states and foreign countries — 16

Effect of steep grades on maintenance Ifc

Chapter III. Methods Of Construction As Applied To Different Kinds Of Soil 18-33

General principles of road construction 18 iv CONTENTS.

CHAPTER III.— Methods of Construction, etc.— continued. Page

Foundation materials 19

Sand 19

Clay 20

Cross sections of various forms of clay roads 20

Drainage 21

Depth of under-drainage 22

Fall of the drain 22

Outlet of the drain 22

Size of tile 23

Kind of tile • 23

Loam 23

Swamp soils • 23

Surface materials 23

Sand 23

Clay and shale 24

Oravel 24

Constituents of a good gravel . .' 25

Crushed rock 25

Wearing tests of various kinds of rock 26

Cementing tests 27

Building gravel and crushed stone roads 28

Construction :

Preparation of the grade to receive surface material . 28

Spreading the material 29

Rolling the material 29

Cost of gravel and macadam 30

Table of quantities necessary for roads of differing

width and thickness 31

Miscellaneous road coverings 32

Corduroy 32

Other surface materials 33

Slag. 33

Cinders 33

Shells 33

Mine tailings 33

CHAPTER IV. ROAD MACHINERY 34-38 Graders 34

Advantage of having a regular road grading crew 34

Proper time to use a grader 35

Prices of road machines 35

Cost of turn-piking with the grader 36

CONTENTS. V

CHAPTER IV.— Road Machinery — continued. Page

Scrapers 36

Capacities of various kinds 36

Cost of earth work built with drag scrapers 37

Cost of earth work built with wheel scrapers 37

Rollers 38

Harrows 38

Other implements 38

CHAPTER V. ROAD MAINTENANCE 39-48 Advantages of continuous maintenance 39

Section system 39

Principles of the care of roads 43

Split-log drag 43

Mud and dust 46

Wide tires 46

Snow roads 47

CHAPTER VI. CULVERTS AND BRIDGES 49-73 General considerations

Size of opening 49

Method of determining amount of water to be provided for 50

Location of bridges and culverts 51

Culverts ... 51

Culvert materials 51

Tile culverts 52

Steel and iron culverts 52

Stone culverts 53

Concrete culverts 53

Moulds 54

Concrete 56

Mixing .*. 57

Filling the forms 57

Strength of concrete , . 58

Quantities of materials per cubic yard of concrete ... 59

Bridges 60

Bridge material 60

Causes of failure 60

Steel bridges 62

Stone bridges 64

Concrete bridges 64

Life and cost of bridge and culvert materials 64

Life of bridges and culverts 64

Cost of bridges and culverts 65

Cost of concrete work 70

Contours 72 vi CONTENTS.

Part II. Conditions In Wisconsin And Road Laws In Other

STATES.

CHAPTER I. PRESENT HIGHWAY CONDITIONS IN WISCONSIN... 77-96 Sources of information 77

Observation 77

Circular letters of questions addressed to

— town clerks 78

—rural free delivery carriers 83

— farmers 85

Condition of Wisconsin roads 89

Bad conditions 89

Poor location 89

Poor construction 90

Poor drainage 92

Lack of maintenance 92

Politics in road work 94

Good conditions 95

Good plans pursued by various towns 95-96

CHAPTER II. ROAD LAWS AND CONDITIONS IN OTHER STATES. 97-122 Statement of present status of State Aid 97

Outline of plan for tabulating highway laws 98

New Jersey 99

Massachusetts , 102

Vermont 104

Connecticut 105

New York 106

Maryland 109

Maine 110

Pennsylvania 112

Michigan 113

Iowa 116

Illinois 117

Ohio 117

Minnesota 119

Washington , 120

Table showing the states having state aid or state control of

highways 122

CONTENTS. vifc

CHAPTER III. DESIRABLE CHANGES IN THE PRESENT ROAD Larger road districts 123

Permanence of road officers 124

Cash tax 126

Need of trained men 127

Road accounts 129

Section system 129

County road system 130

Automobiles 130

State aid 131

CHAPTER IV. ADVANTAGES OF MAKING SOME OF THESE CHANGES IN THE PRESENT HIGHWAY SYSTEM OF THE Town highway commissioners 134

Highway accounts 134

Cash tax 135

County system 135

State aid.. 136

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.

PLATE PAGE

I. The split-log road drag Frontispiece

II. Pig. 1. Sandy roads 19

Fig. 2. Sand road recently covered with straw 19

III. Fig. 1. Sandy road covered with straw which is nearly worn

out 20

Fig. 2. Sandy road covered with crushed rock 20

IV. Cross sections of various kinds of roads 21

Fig. 1. Loam road 21

Fig. 2. Clay road 21

Fig. 3. Secondary ditch 21

Fig. 4. Road as ordinarily left by the grader 21

Fig. 5. Neglected road 21

Fig. 6. Flat-topped clay road 21

Fig. 7. Road with side slopes graded too straight 21

Fig. 8. Road graded too wide 21

V. Fig. 1. Undrained road in wet place on a hillside 22

Fig. 2. Same road as fig. 1, showing effect of drain 22

Fig. 3. Road in a wet place in a cut where two drains are

needed 22

Fig. 4. Road in wet place in level country; drained by one

line of tile 22

Fig. 5. Irregular settling of tile drain 22

VI. Fig. 1. Cross section of road ready for surface material 30

Fig. 2. Cross section of completed macadam or gravel road. . 30 VII. Trench across a dragged road showing old road surface and

effect of dragging 44

VIII. Fig. 1. Undragged road in Waupaca county 45

Fig. 2. Part of same road cared for with the split-log drag. . 45

IX. Rolling snow 47

X. Plan for concrete culvert 54

XI. Poorly located roads in hilly country 89

XII. Fig. 1. A flat-topped clay road in Clark county. Dry 90

Fig. 2. A flat-topped clay road in Clark county. Wet 90

X ILLUSTRATIONS.

PLATE PAGE

XIII. Clay road covered with gravel which is left just as dumped

by the wagons 91

XIV. Fig. 1. Clay read in Calumet county with shallow ruts filled

with water 92

Fig. 2. More heavily traveled ciay road in Calumet county. . £2-

XV. Fig. 1. Bandy road in Trempeaieau county, covered with shale 93 Fig. 2. Gravel road in Washington county with sod and

coarse gravel heaped in the center 93

XVI. Fig. 1. Good gravel road in Sheboygan county 96

Fig. 2. Good permanent stone culvert in the town of Wabeka,

Washington county 9G

Figures in text.

Fig. 1. Overturf steel mold for concrete culverts 55

Fig. 2. Cut showing how contours are drawn 73

PKEFACE.

The improvement of the rural highways of this state is a problem whose proper solution is of the highest importance to the people. It is becoming quite generally recognized that road building and maintenance are as much special vocations requiring special training as are any other engineering occupations. This volume makes no pretense of being anything but the most preliminary statement of problems that exist and no attempt is made to give detailed directions for building roads in any particular localities. Such directions must be to a large extent valueless because of the infinite variety of local conditions with reference to which the materials must be treated. Rather the purpose has been to give a few of the most fundamental principles and leave the working out of the local details to later opportunity or to local road officials.

The first part is a summary of the principles of making roads. In this free use has been made of the publications of the highway departments of the various states, and credit is given in each case Those which have been especially helpful are the reports of the highway commissioners of Maine, Xew Jersey, Ohio, and Iowa.

The second part is a summary of highway conditions in this state, and a digest of the laws of those states having the most progressive road legislation. Credit is given in the text or footnotes wherever it is possible to do so. The thesis of Professor F. G. Young and Bulletin £To. 4 of the Ohio Highway Commission deserve special mention as sources of information rexii PREFACE.

garding the laws of the various states. In the most important cases, however, the laws themselves were referred to.

Since the magnitude of the subject of roads must necessarily limit a discussion which attempts to cover a wide range and compel it to he incomplete and elementary in its character, it is felt that no apologies are necessary for such defects in this volume. The logical following up of this subject by any state department demands special recognition of the work and special funds appropriated for the purpose. The present volume is to be regarded as simply an initial expression of the importance of the subject and of the considerable interest in country roads which has recently been awakened.

The Geological and Natural History Survey is perhaps the best situated at present of any department of the state government to take up this matter, as it is directly concerned with all road materials and has already published a bulletin (Bulletin X. E. E. Buckley, 1903) entitled "Highway Construction in Wisconsin," which deals chiefly with pavements. The people of the State need for the bettering of the rural highways information regarding methods of road construction and education in their use, which can best be provided through the organization furnished by the Survey.

In the preparation of this report the assistance and valuable suggestions of the Director of the Survey, Dr. E. A. Birge, and of President Van Hise, have been of the greatest assistance.

"It was by the highways that both travelers and goods generally passed from place to place. And these highways appear to have been far worse than might have been expected from the degree of wealth and civilization which the nation had even then obtained

"One chief cause of the badness of the roads seems to have been the defective state of the law. Every parish was bound to repair the highway which passed through it. The peasantry were forced to give their gratuitous labor six days in the year. If this was not sufficient hired labor was employed, and the expense met by a parochial rate. That a route connecting two great towns, which have a large and thriving trade with each other, should be maintained at the cost of the rural population scattered between them is obviously unjust; and this injustice ivas particularly glaring in the case of the great North road which traversed very poor and thinly inhabited districts, and joined v?ry rich and populous districts. . . . This grievance attracted the attention of Parliament, and an act, the first of many turnpike acts, was passed. . . . This innovation, however, 'excited many murmurs. A change was at length effected, but not without much difficulty. For unjust and absurd taxation to which men are accustomed is often borne more willingly than the most reasonable impost which is new/' „>

Macaulay's History of England. — Boads in 1685.

RURAL HIGHWAYS OF WISCONSIN.

Introduction

The fundamental purpose of a highway is to provide a ready means of intercourse between various points along its length, both to permit the people to enjoy social and educational privileges, and to permit the marketing of produce. Conditions are gradually becoming such in our state that the use of roads for the purpose of hauling heavy loads of produce to market is much less than their use for hauling light loads and making quick trips for pleasure or business.

The permanent improvement of a road must be regarded as an investment of public funds. On th'e one side of the account we find that there is interest to pay on the cost of such a road. There is also the increased cost of maintenance which a permanent road requires. To balance this must be set off the actual saving in heavy hauling, the interest on the increased value of land along the road, and the value to the farmer of the increased accessibility of church, school and other social and educational advantages. In the form of a ledger account it is as follows:

PEBMAKENT EOADS.

Debtor to Creditor by

Interest on Investment Saving in heavy Hauling.

Increased cost of Maintenance Increase in land Values.

More easy access to market, church, school and social advantages.

It is evident at once from an inspection of this balance that as a commercial proposition only the more heavily travelled of the roads in the state of Wisconsin will at the present time justify permanent improvement by the construction of macadam.

The factors on the credit side of this account are very difficult to estimate, for instance, the actual saving in heavy hauling. If the average man is asked how much saving in heavy hauling a good road will permit him to make, he will figure the number of days time for team and man which could be saved and multiply it by the rate of wages per day. If he is asked if he would be really willing to pay this, he hesitates because he realizes at once that his heavy hauling on the roads is a minor part of his time and is frequently done when teams would otherwise be idle and himself and men without particular employment. The factor of the increased value of land should probably in part be included under the value of the increased accessibility of church, school, and such interests, as the increased value is partly due to the greater desirability of the location on account of such accessibility.

From the foregoing statements thle value of a permanently improved road is seen to depend very largely upon the means of ready intercourse which it furnishes at all seasons of the year for light traveling, and the consequent enjoyment of the advantages of church, schools, etc. Many portions of the state are thickly enough settled to make permanent improvement of the roads an economic necessity, particularly along the more traveled routes, but the majority must continue to be dirt roads for a long time. As a consequence, the present problem before the people of the rural communities is not so much the construction of permanent roads as the construction of earth roads in the best possible and cheapest manner. At the present time there is enough money being spent by the rural districts to have the best earth roads it is possible to construct, if the money were only wisely expended, and still have a good

INTRODUCTION. 3

part of their highway funds to put into building permanent roads.

In the past the 'good roads movement' won for itself considerable opposition because it went ahead of conditions and advocated the construction of permanent highways without considering whether the local situation warranted such expenditures or not. Owing to this fact it becomes advisable to state that it is not the purpose of this little volume to urge the building of permanent roads by all rural communities in the state. It is urged that they be built where conditions warrant, but also urged that they be not built where conditions do not warrant. The main idea which it is hoped will be gained from its pages is that incomparably better roads than we have can be built for money at present being spent, and that it is the duty of the state to do all in its power to aid rural districts in constructing these better roads that they are already paying for. It is not proposed to advocate any scheme for unnecessary expensive road building, or anything that will cause an unwarranted increase in the taxes which are already regarded as too high in many towns.

PART I

EOAD BUILDING AND MAINTENANCE.

WHAT CONSTITUTES A GOOD ROAD.

Chapter I, What Constitutes A Good Road

In this chapter are presented in a general way the essentials of a good road. These essentials are taken up later on in a specific manner, showing how they may be obtained.

The definition of a good road is in no essential part different from the definition of any other good structure which a man may build. If a man desires to build a home he considers first the matter of a good location, next he considers its proper construction upon approved plans, and third, he takes up the matter of maintaining it in good condition so long as he chooses to live there. The same elements may be taken as the foundation for the definition of a good road. A good road is first, properly located; second, well constructed; and third, maintained in good condition.

Proper Location for a road consists In putting it in such a position that people using it can reach their destinations with the least time and effort. The general direction of the road should therefore be as straight as possible consistent with proper grades. To secure a good grade will often necessitate bending very much from a straight line between the points it is desired to connect, but the road should be finally located so that when it is completed the length and grade will be balanced so well that a minimum of effort will be required to go from one end to the other. The two chief factors of a good location are therefore proper grades and proper direction.

Proper Construction of a road can be secured only by considering the fundamental principles which govern it. The first necessity in proper construction is a good foundation. This may consist, and practically always does consist, of firm, well drained earth. Above this foundation the road must have sufficient crown,, or rounding up in the middle, to readily carry the water off the surface into the side ditches. The surface should be composed of as impervious material as can be obtained, in order that when given sufficient crown it may carry the water off to the sides instead of allowing it to seep down into the foundation. In short, the function of the surface of the road is primarily that of a roof. Besides the foundation, crown, and surface of the road there must be also proper drainage. In most places roads are sufficiently drained by proper ditches along the side, but where these are not sufficient to keep the water out of the road they must be supplemented by drains laid under the road. These four factors of proper construction are considered in detail in chapter III.

Maintenance is a; term which, in its application to dirt roads, is understood by comparatively few of those who have charge of such highways. This is the common term which, on a railway, is used to include all work that is necessary to keep the road-bed in first class shape, and is always looked after in railroad organization by a department separate from the one which does the construction. In relation to country roads maintenance may be defined as continuous care which does not permit the formation of ruts and pitch holes, or other damage to the condition of the road. The one thing which Wisconsin roads need most at present is some attempt at maintaining them.

The maintenance of a road is, as is naturally to be expected, much cheaper than its construction in the first instance. At present most dirt roads are reconstructed every few years and no attempt made to do anything with them between these times of reconstruction. The difference in cost is quite fairly represented by what is at present being paid for earth roads in

WHAT CONSTITUTES A GOOD ROAD. 9

this state and the cost of maintaining them, as shown by experience in other states. In Wisconsin the people are spending on country roads an average of more than thirty dollars per mile every year. Where proper methods of maintenance are used, as in parts of some other states, dirt roads are readily kept in excellent condition for from three to ten dollars per mile per year, depending upon the nature of the road. This difference between three-to-ten dollars and thirty dollars is approximately representative of the cost of roads according to the two systems: — construction with no maintenance averaging thirty dollars a year for every mile of road, as in this state, and wh'ere maintenance is practiced after the roads are once constructed, the cost being from three to ten dollars per year.

Chapter II. Location Of Roads

There are several things which must be considered in the location of a road. The first of these is the length of the road necessary to accomplish a given air line distance. In a flat prairie country the best location is a straight line between the two points it is desired to connlect. When it is desired to locate a road in hilly country the problem becomes one in which many factors are concerned, chief of which are the increased cost of construction, steeper grades, and the difficulty of maintaining roads where these steep grades exist.

The problem of the primary location of roads is not an important one in this state, as roads are to a large extent already located. Only in the unsettled northern portions of the state are new roads being laid out to any extent. For this reason the subject of location becomes rather one of relocation. When permanent improvement of a road is contemplated the profitableness of relocation must be considered. Roads at present are to a large extent located on land division lines, chiefly section lines. In case a. main traveled road goes about two sides of a level square section of land it may be econominal to relocate the road so that it passes in a diagonal direction through the section. A four-rod road on two sides of a section of land occupies sixteen acres, while a road four rods wide in a diagonal direction through the section occupies approximately eleven acres of land. The diagonal road, therefore, will result in a saving of about five acres., The length of the diagonal road is only

LOCATION OF ROADS. H

about one and four tenths miles as compared with the length of two miles of the road on the two sides of the section. To the saving in land and the saving in distance thus effected must ba added the saving of the cost of constructing six-tenths of a mile, which is made by relocating the road on the diagonal. If the road were to cost two thousand dollars a mile this saving would be twelve hundred dollars. The saving in land would vary from five to one hundred and fifty dollars an acre. The final factor, which should usually be the determining one, would be the value to the community of the convenience of having a shorter distance to travel, and must depend upon the amount of traffic which goes over the road.

Relocation in rolling or hilly country. In any but flat country the problem in locating a road becomes more complicated than the preceding case. In a hilly country the length of the road must be adjusted to four principal considerations ; length, cost of construction, location of suitable bridge sites, and the securing of proper grades.

In planning a road the amount of earth work required in cutting down the hills and filling the depressions should be made to cost a sum proportional to the cost of constructing the greater length which would be required to go around hills and depressions in order to avoid the necessity of cuts. In many towns in the state expensive cuts and fills have been made to secure suitable grades along section lines where a new right of way not many rods distant could be bought and a good round sum paid for it, and then a practically level road constructed at a total cost less than the sum paid for the present cuts and fills,

In case it is necessary to cross streams suitable bridge sites will often datermine the proper location of the road, as the location of a bridge a few hundred feet up or down stream from any point in a valley may effect a saving of a considerable percentage in the cost of a bridge. If the cost of the bridge cannot be cut down by such a change it might often occur that a site far more suitable could be obtained in which the security of the bridge from wash-outs would be much greater. If possible the stream course should be straight above the bridge. A bridge should not be located on a bend in a stream if it is possible to avoid doing so.

Grades. The grade of a road is commonly expressed in the number of feet of rise in one hundred feet of horizontal distance. A road with one foot of rise in one hundred feet of length is said to have a grade of one per cent; a road of two feet of rise a grade of two per cent ; a road of ten feet of rise in one hundred a grade of ten per cent, and so on.

"The horizontal pull which a horse can exert depends upon its weight, its form or build, the method of hitching, the foothold afforded by the surface, the speed, the length or duration of the effort, the rest time between efforts, and the tax upon the future efficiency of the horse. The chief of these are the weight, the speed, and the length of the effort. With reasonably good footing a horse can exert a pull equal to one-tenth of his weight at a speed of 2% miles an hour (3% feet per second) for ten hours per day for six days per week and keep in condition. This is a common rate of exertion by farm horses in pulling r>lows, mowers, and other agricultural implements. Most horses can exert a tractiva power equal to half their weight, at a slow walk for about one hundred feet. On the road in emergencies, as in starting the load or in overcoming obstacles, a horse may be expected to exert a pull equal to half his weight, but at this rate he would develope a day's energy in about two hours; and consequently if he is expected to work all day, he should not be called upon to exert his maximum power except for a short time. Similarly, a horse can exert a draft equal to one quarter of his weight for a longer time. The working tractive power of a horse may be taken as one tenth of its weight, with an ordinary maximum of one quarter, and in great emergencies ai maximum of one half its weight."* *Roads and Pavements, Baker, 1903, pp. 31-32.

LOCATION OF ROADS.

The Missouri Agricultural Experiment Station has made a number of very practical experiments on the amount of pull exerted in drawing a load of constant weight over various kinds and conditions of roads and fields. The following table is a portion of that given in their Bulletin ISTo. 52. In the experiments they used the same load upon two different sets of wheels: — standard size with 44 inch front wheels and 55 inch rear wheels, and the low size with 24 inch front wheels and 28 inch rear wheels. The wheels were of steel construction with sixinch tires, and the difference in weight was such that the total weight of wagon and load with the high wheels was 3762 pounds and with the low wheels 3362 pounds.

TABLE I.

KIND OF ROAD.

CONDITION OF ROAD.

NUMBER OF POUNDS PULL.

High wheels.

Low wheels.

Gravel road

Level, dry, with one inch of sand and some loose gravei.

Clean and in fair condition Dry and not firm

158.9

108.0 113.1

189.2

185.3

117.4 120.0 233.8

Cinder track

Dirt road

Frozen solid, ft inch sticky mud on top.

Dry and hard, in good condition .

Diy and firm level

Timothy & bluegrass sod.

Corn stubble Plowed ground

Wet and spongy

Dry, with small ridges

Freshly plowed and dry .

This table gives the pull necessary to draw the wagon and a net load of two thousand pounds over the surfaces named. If the pull be taken as one-tenth the weight of the team, according to the above quotation from Baker, to pull the loads used in these experiments on gravel roads would require a team weighing 1589 pounds with the standard wheels and 1853 jpounds with low wheels. On macadam the team would only need to weight 1080 pounds. On the plowed ground, however,

RURAL HIGHWAYS OF WISCONSIN.

with standard wheels it would take a team weighing 47 50 pounds to pull this load with the ordinary effort which should be required of a horse. Even supposing the team were to exert for a short distance a pull equal to one quarter of its weigh t, it would need to weigh 1900 pounds.

The results in the above table were obtained from experiments conducted on level ground. If it were desired to pull these loads up grade the pull would, of course, be much greater. According to Baker, if a horse can pull 1000 pounds on a muddy level road, it can pull

2000 pounds in spongy earth roads,

3000 pounds on best earth roads,

6000 pounds on macadam roads,

10,000 pounds on asphalt,

20,000 pounds on iron rails.

Table II, which is arranged from Baker, gives the percentage of the load for level ground which a horse can pull up grades of different degrees of steepness.

TABLE II.

Load which a horse can draw on a grade in terms of percentage of the load on the level, when exerting a uniform force equal to one-tenth of its weight.

Rate of

Sheet

Broken

Earth Road

grade, per cent.

Iron rails.

asphalt.

stone.

Best.

Spongy.

Muddy.

Per cent.

Per cent.

Per cent.

Per cent.

Per cent.

Per cent.

. 7

A very important fact appears in this table. That is, the smoother and harder a road is the more gentle the grades must

LOCATION OF ROADS. 15

be. For instance, on a muddy earth road of one percent grade a horse can draw 91% of what he could draw on a level road of the same kind. On the best earth road he could draw 62%. and on macadam only 56%. This is due to the fact that the greatest part of the effort in drawing a load over a muddy road is consumed in squeezing the mud out from under the wheels in order to secure a solid bottom for the wheel to roll upon. The resistance which a load offers to being drawn is divided into (1) rolling resistance, which is that just mentioned, and is due to the sinking of the wheel in the surface of the road, causing the load to be continually drawn up an incline, as it were; (2) axle friction; (3) resistance of the air. It is evident from this that axle friction and resistance of the air are but a very small part of the resistance to overcome on a muddy road, and the rolling resistance is nearly all of it. Consequently the added draft in pulling a load up a slight incline on a muddy road is not so great in proportion to the draft on a level stretch as it is on a hard surfaced road. On a macadam surface the rolling resistance is decreased very decidedly and the other factors make up a proportionately larger amount.