The location, construction and maintenance of roads

Preface

In the summer of 1916, several State highway engineers reported to the American Highway Association that there was need of a concise explanation of the best current practice in locating, constructing and maintaining country roads, not combined with information about city pavements. It was found by these engineers that the information in many excellent engineering treatises proved confusing to rural road officials because they did not have sufficient technical knowledge to draw a line between what was applicable to country highways and what was restricted to urban conditions. Inquiry showed that such an outline of road-building would be welcomed by the road officials of other States, and the preparation of this book was accordingly begun.

Highway engineers in all parts of the country generously contributed material and advice. Special attention was paid to ascertaining reasons for unusual methods, in order to avoid the publication of anything useful only in restricted locaUties and possibly leading to trouble if tried generally. The purpose was to furnish information of a national value rather than an expression of the views of a few individuals, who inevitably have personal preferences and prejudices. As each section was finished it was submitted for criticism to engineers or chemists with special knowledge of the subjects discussed, and most of the chapters formed by combining these revised sections were sent out to other engineers for further criticism. Some of the chapters were revised a number of times before they were finally approved. As a consequence, although my name appears as the author on the title page, the book is rather the product of the cooperation of over fifty of the leading American highway engineers and the patient and intelligent handling of the details of the work by Miss Isabelle Stockett, at the time chief clerk of the American Highway Association.

This book appeared originally as Part II of the 1917 Good Roads Year Book. Its wide cu-culation, the many references to it in technical journals, and its use as a textbook by engineering colleges, indicating that the volume had won a distinct position in technical literature, led the Directors of the American Highway Association to assign the copyright to the D. Van Nostrand Company, when the Association was dissolved a few days ago. By this action the results of the cooperative labors of so many specialists will remain available to the public.

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IV PREFACE

Added to the text as it appeared in the Good Roads Year Book is a chapter on the reasons for improving roads. This is part of a ''good roads manual" for public officials, not technically educated, which had considerable circulation in manuscript form among road commissioners applying to the American Highway Association for such information. It is printed here as a concise justification of the expenditure of public funds for road improvements, a subject which highway engineers must frequently discuss at pubhc meetings.

John M. Goodell.

Upper Montclair, N. J., March, 1918.

Contents

Location, Grades, Widths and Cross-Sections of Rural Roads 1

Regulations of the California Highway Commission Regarding Surveys and Plans 12

Standard Specifications for Portland Cement 107

Part 1, Surveys

(a) Note Books. — Survey note books will be furnished to the chief of party by the Division engineer. No survey note book other than the standard book so furnished shall be used, and the use of loose sheets is prohibited. The notes placed therein shall be the ''original" notes of the survey and shall not be copied from sheets or from other books.

The standard book shall be used for alignment, topography and levels, and for all other information which the survey parties are required to secure; all notes shall begin at the bottom of the page and read upward.

On beginning a survey the chief of party shall see that a proper entry of the Division, coimty and route, is made upon the label pasted to the inside of the front cover of the note book.

Attached to the back cover of each book are several pages showing the ''standards" required in all surveys. All survey notes shall conform in so far as possible to such "standards" to the end that all surveys and the manner of taking the notes thereof shall be uniform throughout the work.

At the beginning of each day's work the following data shall be entered in the book: Date; weather conditions; names of members of party and duties of each.

When no notes are taken on a working day or portion of a day, the date shall be entered and the reason for the loss of time shall be stated clearly and concisely.

All survey and other notes shall be suitably indexed on the first ruled page of the note book.

Every day at the close of the work the notes shall be copied neatly upon specially printed sheets furnished by the division engineer and numbered consecutively, and after careful checking such sheets shall be forthwith forwarded to the division engineer.

No note book shall contain notes relating to more than one route or to more than one county.

1 From Austin B. Fletcher, State Highway Engineer of California.

REGULATIONS OF THE CALIFORNIA HIGHWAY COMmsSION 13

(b) Alignment Notes. — The base line of the survey shall be referred to the true meridian, which shall be determined by observation on polaris. The chief of party before beginning a survey shall procure all tables and other data needed for such determination and observations shall be made from time to time to ensure the accm'acy of the work. The line shall also be checked by magnetic bearings taken at each transit point. All angles in the base Hne shall be azimuth angles read from the back sight and repeated with the telescope reversed.

Complete traverses shall be run in all surveys and computed in the field. If the error of closure exceeds 1 : 5000 the division engineer shall be notified and the party shall not move camp imtil he has authorized such moving. The closures shall be completed and computed in such lengths as the division engineer shall prescribe.

The base line shall be as nearly as may be in the center of the proposed road. When it is apparent that a tangent base line will not follow the approximate center of the proposed road, a curve of suitable radius shall be run. Curves shall be measured by computing the length of the arc and not by chords.

If the survey follows an existing road, wire nails not less than 5J inches in length shall be driven flush with the traveled way at all angle points in the base line, at the beginning and ending of all curves and on long tangents at intervals not exceeding 1000 feet.

When the base fine does not follow a traveled way or when the roadway is so soft that nails will not hold their position, wooden stakes driven flush with the ground shall be used and the transit point indicated thereon by a small nail.

All transit points shall be properly referenced as provided under the caption ''Stakes."

Stations shall be estabhshed every 100 feet on the base line and indicated by short wire nails driven through bits of red cloth into the ground to serve as temporary markers during the survey. The stations and half stations shall be also permanently marked by stakes set on both sides of the proposed road sufficiently far removed from the base line to prevent their being disturbed during the building of the road.

(c) Stakes. — All stakes which are to be used for estabhshing grades shall be made from 2x3 inch scantling, from 24 to 30 inches in length, laid flat and sawed diagonally into two wedges, with the sharp ends approximately J inch thick. The lumber from which the stakes are made shall be sound, reasonably free from knots, and planed on all sides. These stakes shall be driven into the ground to about one-half of their length with the 2-inch face parallel to the base hne. On the right side of the road the station number shall be marked plainly on the side of the stake facing Station O, and on the opposite side of this stake shall be marked to the nearest tenth, the offset from the base line. The face toward the road must be reserved for marking during construction. On the left hand side of the road, the offset from the base line shall be marked on the side of the stake facing Station O and the station number on the opposite side.

All stakes used to mark monuments and for transit points shall be wedge shaped, not less than 1 foot in length nor less than | x 2-inch at the top. Such stakes shall be driven flush with the groimd unless they are so located as not to endanger the traveling public. Short nails driven into the tops of these stakes shall indicate the monument and transit points.

All monument and transit points shall be referenced by three ties to natural objects or, if such do not exist, to stakes, as shown by the ''standards" at the back of the note book.

(d) Topography. — All objects, such as houses, barns, fences, gates, field entrances, trees, telephone and telegraph poles, power lines, railroad and railway tracks, within a distance of 150 feet on either side of the base line shall be located by offsets from the base Une and recorded in considerable detail, and the limits of the ''traveled way" on all existing roads shall be indicated. Separate sketches, with levels and dimensions of all essential features, shall be made in the note book of all bridges, large culverts and other appurtenances of the road, and plainly referenced in the topography notes.

The azimuth from the back sight to the boundary lines of all incorporated cities and of all counties shall be ascertained and recorded. The azimuth of the boundary lines of all entering and intersecting highways, of township lines, and of division lines between property holdings shall be ascertained and recorded with reasonable accuracy, and when feasible the names of the owners of property abutting on the proposed road shall be recorded.

When it is desirable to locate topographic features from a sub-tangent, the station will be measured from the nearest end of the curve.

(e) Levels — Whenever there is a known government bench within 3 miles of the survey, the datum plane of such bench shall be adopted for the work. If no such bench is available, a datum plane shall be assumed at such an elevation as will be low for all parts of the survey.

Benches shall be established during the progress of the work at each end of the survey, at city and county lines, and at other convenient points not more than 1000 feet apart, and at shorter intervals on grades.

REGULATIONS OF THE CALIFORNIA HIGHWAY COMMISSION 15

Where no permanent objects or structures exist, a long, substantial stake shall be driven firmly into the ground and properly referenced.

On bench marks, at turning points, and on construction stakes, elevations shall be determined to hundredths of a foot.

Cross section levels shall be taken to tenths of a foot at each 100-foot station and at half stations, at entering and intersecting roads, for not less than 200 feet from the base line, at driveways and field entrances and wherever the surface of the ground changes abruptly. The elevation of the center of the traveled way of an existing road shall be taken and properly noted when it does not coincide with the base line. The cross sections shall include the whole width between fences, and where the grade is likely to be changed substantially the cross sections shall cover a width sufficient to include all groimd likely to be affected.

Sections shall be taken at all culverts and water crossings, and elevations shall be taken a sufficient distance up and down all streams to afford data for designing new structures.

(f) General Data. — The survey notes shall contain data concerning:

1. The location of outcropping boulders and bedrock, suitable for road metal or concrete.

2. The location of all quarries near the proposed road.

3. The location and approximate quantity of field stone available in the vicinity of the road.

4. The location of all gravel pits.

5. The location of points where good river sand can be obtained.

6. The available points where water for sprinklers and steam rollers can be obtained.

7. The location of all railroad spur tracks or sidings within reasonable haul of the proposed highway and the name of the railroad.

8. The most advantageous locations for rock crushing plants along the road.

9. The current wages paid to teamsters and laborers in the locations through which the road will pass. Amount paid for hire of mules or horses (without driver) per day. Amount paid for man and two-horse team per day.

10. The locations where special underdrains should be installed due to the existence of unstable sub-soil conditions. Inquiry should be made of residents and local officers regarding spots that break up badly in wet weather.

11. The approximate area of the watershed at each stream crossing if it can be readily obtained. All high-water marks should be noted and inquiry as to whether or not water overflows the road.

12. All general information that may prove of value in the construction of the highway.