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PUBLISHED BY ORDER OF HIS EXCELLENCY THE LIEUTENANT GOVERNOR, CHIEFLT FOR THE USE OP ROAD COMMISSIONERS IN NOVA SCOTIA. HALIFAX : PRINTED BY GOSSIP & COADE, AT THE TIMES OFFICE, 1839. 1 a c n P o F a ir S n tt P "*., INTRODUCTION. WHEN iho state of a society has arrived at a high de- gree of industry and wealth, so many persons and such quan- tities of goods, are set in motion, for the purpose of admi- nistering to its business and its luxuries, that it becomes of the greatest importance to construct the public Roads in such a manner, as to admit of travelling with rapidity and safety, and of reducing the cost of the carriage of Goods to the low- est possible point. To explain how these objects can be most effectually secured, is the purpose of the following pages. The measures necessary to be taken for affording the means of travelling with rapidity and safety, and of trans- porting goods at low rates of carriage, form an essential part of the domestic economy of every people. The making of Roads, in point of fact, is fundamentally essential to bring about the first cliangj that every rude country must undergo in emerging from a condition of poverty and barbarism. It is, therefore, one of the most important duties of every government to take care that such laws be enacted, and such means provided, as are requisite for the making and main- taining of well constructed roads into and tiiroughout every portion of the territory under its aiilhorily. '^ IV Adam Smith says, " Good roads, canals, and naviga- ble rivers, by diminishing the expense of carriage, put the remote parts of a country, nearly on a level with those in the neighbourhood of a town ; they are upon that account the greatest of all improvements." The establishing generally, throughout a Country, of per- fect roads, is an object of no small importance in regard to public economy. In proportion as roads are level and hard, there will be a saving of horse labour ; fewer horses will be required ; they will last longer and a cheaper description of horse may be employed ; less food will be consumed and fewer servants will be wanted. In consequence of this re- duction of expense, the charges for travelling will be lowered, and also the rates for the carriage of goods. The first attempt to put the roads into order occurred when the turnpike system was introduced. The ancient method employed to mend roads in England, until after the restoration of King Charles 2d, was by a pound rate in the respective Counties on the landholders ; and by the supply- ing of carts and horses of parishes for a limited number of days. But when, after the last named period, commerce was become so generally increased, and in consequence thereof, wheel carriages and pack horses, were so extremely multiplied, the first turnpike road was established by law (the 16 Charles 2d, cap. 1, anno 1653) for taking toll of all but foot passengers on the northern road, through Hertfordshire, Cambridgeshire, and Huntingdonshire ; which road was then become very bad, by means of the great loads of barley and malt, &c., brought weekly to Ware in waggons and carts, and from thence conveyed by water to London. i i_^ V It was not, liowcver, till after the peace of 1748, iliat anything like a great exertion was made to redeem the public highways from the wretched state in which they had alwoys been. Mr. Chambers says, in his estimate, " Turnpikes which we saw first introduced soon after the restoration, were erect- ed slowly, in opposition to the prejudices of the people. The Act which for a time made it felony at the beginning of the reign of George the Second to pull down a toll gate, was continued as a perpetual law before the conclusion of it. Yet the great roads of England remained almost in their anci- ent condition, even as late as 1752 or 1754, when the travel- ler seldom saw a turnpike for 200 miles after leaving the vi- cinity of London." After 17G0, the general spirit of improvement led to that of the Roads ; and in fourteen years from that period to 1774, no less than 452 Turnpike Acts were passed. Since that year a number of Turnpike Acts have continued to be passed, as will appear from the following Table. In eight years, from 1785 to 1792 302 1792 to 1800 341 1800 to 1809 419 In every year since 1809, the establishing of Turnpike Roads has gone on progressively, till they have extended to nearly 23,000 miles. But although this Turnpike system has led to the making of many new roads, and to the changing of many old ones, into what may be called good roads, in comparison with what ihcy formerly were, this system has been carried into cxecu- k^' '>; ■fcihHaaiS VI Ij: lion under such erroneous regulations, and llie persons who have been entrusted with the administration of thcni have uni- formly heen either so negligent, or so little acquainted with the business of making or repairing roads, that at this mo- ment it may bo stated; with the utmost corroctness, that there is not a road in England, except those recently made by some eminent civil engineers, which is not extremely de- fective in the most essential qualities of a perfect Road. With regard to the lines of direction of the turnpike roads, they evidently have not been laid out according to any fixed principle ; they are in fact precisely the identical lines, almost in every instance, which formed the footpaths of the aboriginal inhabitants of the country. The following passage is taken from a pamphlet called " The Landed Property of England" : — " Most of the old Roads of the Kingdom (the remains of the Roman ways ex- cepted,) owe their present lines to particular circumstances. Many of them were, no doubt, originally footpaths ; some of them, perhaps, the tracks of the aboriginal inhabitants, and these footpaths became, as the condition of society advanced, the most convenient horsepaths. According as the lands of the kingdom were appropriated, the tortuous lines of road became fixed and unalterable, there being no other legal lines left for carriage roads, and hence the origin of the crooked- ness and steepness of existing roads." Tiie crookedness and steepness in numerous places, at this moment, of almost every great road, is thus accounted for. These defects are attended with great inconvenience and danger to travellers, and are quite disgraceful to the na- tional character. i. Vll As many otiior great defects exist in nil tlio principal roads, it is tu be hoped, that at length the attention of the public and of government will be roused, and seriously and efiectually applied to bring about a proper remedy. These defects are, in point of fact, so numerous and so glaring, that it is quite evident that the true principles of the art of Road making have not yet been followed. The breadth of a Road is seldom defined to a regular number of feet by straight and regular boundaries, such as fences, footpaths, mounds of earth, or side channels. The transverse section of the surface, when measured j is rarely to be found of a regular convexity. The surface of all the roads, until with- in a few years, was every where cut into deep ruts, and even now, since more attention has been paid to road works, though the surface is smoother, the bed of materials which forms it is universally so thin, that it is weak and conse- quently exceedingly imperfect. Drainage is neglected ; high hedges and trees are allowed to intercept the action of the sun and wind in drying the roads ; and many roads, by con- stantly carrying off the mud from them for a number of years, have been sunk below the level of the adjoining fields, so that they are always wet and damp, and extremely expensive to keep in order, owing to the rapid decay of the materials which are laid upon them. The business of road making in this country, has almost entirely been confined to the exclusive management of indi- viduals, wholly ignorant of the scientific principles on which the making of good Roads depends. It has received until very lately, little attention from the scientific world ; so lit- tle, indeed, that the primary and indispensable objects of VIII providing n dry and sound loundulion for ilic surfncc inaio- rials, and of giving the surfuco a regular convexity, have not, till within a short time tigo, been recognised nnd explain- ed by any scientific rulos whatever. While during a considerable number of years, every im- proveniunt which depended on the industrious classes has made immense progress, the improvement of Roads, the management of which the laws have vested in the hands of the land proprietors, made no advancement at all until very recently. It is only about twelve years ago that the land propri- etors, seem to have begun to comprehend the value of good roads, and to be aware that large funds and a considerable share of science and constant attention, are necessary to bring them into a perfect state. At the present time, although the country gentlemen are somewhat more active and better informed, the degree of improvement which they have introduced is little more than the palliation of a great evil, and goes but a short way towards securing that perfection, which ought to be universally intro- duced. One of the greatest efforts which has been made in mo- dern times by the Legislature, to afford, on an extensive scale, to a part of the public, the benefit of improved com- munication, is the plan that was adopted in 1803 for making roads in the Highlands of Scotland. Commissioners were appointed in that year for making these roads. The expense was defrayed in equal portions by grants of parliament and local contributions. The operations were conducted by Mr. Telford ; and the result has been the constructing of 875 IX milo.s of rond in cvory ro^pcot siiilnbK; to iho country, and the building; of 1117 Bri(.lt;;rs. Those roads trnverso tho Ili;^iiliiiidi of Scotland in idl dirrcliuns ; and nliliuugh tho whole region coinists of higli mountains, tho lines of rond have been laid out with so nuich science, that the inclina- tions ore every where moderate. Next to the tracing of these roads, the principal merit consists in the forming and draining of tlicni in such n man- ner, as to place them out of the reach of all injury from tho torrents of water to which they would otherwise be exposed. Ill the Districts between Glasgow, Cumbernauld, and Carlisle, upwards of l.'")0 miles of new lowland roads have been made by Mr. Tclfonl, acting under the same commis- sion. But it was not until Mr. Telford was employed by the Commissioners appointed by Parliament, in 1815, for improving the Holyhead road, that he had an opportunity of carrying into execution a plan of road-making suitable to a great traflic on completely perfect principles. In that year a sum of money having been voted by Parliament for the im- provement of the Holyhead road, Mr. Telford was consulted by the Commissioners with respect to the best plan of accom- plishing the object Parliament had in view. He strongly re- commended that he should be allowed, if employed by them, to execute all the new works upon this line of road in the most substantial and perfect manner, in consequence of its great importance from being the main communication between England and Ireland. The Commissioners having adopted Mr. Telford's ad- vice, and Parliament having continued to grant further sums of money, an extent of cigiily two miles of new road has ^N 1 been made by him through North Wales, between Chirk and Holyhead : three miles between Chirk and the vil- lage of Gobowen, near Oswestry, and seven miles on the Holyhead and Chester road. Thirty-one miles have also been made by Mr. Telford, at various places on the Holyhead road, between London and North Wales, with money advanced to the Parliamentary Commissioners, on loan, by the Commissioners for giving employment to the poor. These roads have been constructed in the most sub- stantial manner. A foundation of rough pavement has been made as a bed to support the surface materials. They arc uniform in breadth and superficial convexity. They are completely drained, and when carried along the face of pre- cipices, they are protected by strong walls. They are ac- knowledged by all persons competent to form a correct judg- ment on works of this kind, to be a model of the most per- fect road-making that has ever been attempted in any country. I TREATISE ON ROADS. CHAPTER I. RULKS FOR TRACING THE LINE OF A NEW ROAD. THIS business of tracing the line of a road, should never be undertaken without the assistance of instruments ; and all local suggestions should be received with extreme caution. To guard against errors in this important point, it is essentially necessary not to trust to the eye alone, but in every case to have a survey made of the country lying be- tween the extreme points of the intended new road. For this purpose an experienced surveyor should be employed to survey and take the levels of all the various lines that, on a previous perambulation of the country appear favorable. It is only by such means that the best line can be determined. Tiicse surveys should be neatly and accurately protracted, and laid down on good paper, on a scale of sixty-six yards to an inch for the ground plan, and of thirty feet to an inch for the vertical section. The map should be correctly shaded, so as to exhibit a true representation of the country, with all its undulations of high grounds and valleys, streams and brooks, houses, or- cliardii, ciiurches, ponds of water adjacent to the line of road ; and all other consi)icuous objects should also be laid down In the map. A vertical section bhould be made, and the "^N 2 i % B hi I nature of the soil or difTcfent strata should be shown over which each apparently favourable line passes, to be ascertain- ed by boring ; for it is by this means alone that the slopes at which the cuttings and embankments will stand can be deter- mined and calculated. If it be necessary to cross rivers, the height of the greatest floods should be marked on the sec- tions ; and the velocity of the water and the sectional area of the river should be stated. It' bogs or morasses are to be passed over, the depth of the peat should be ascertained by boring ; and the general in- clination of liie country for drainage should be marked. All the gravel pits, or stone quarries contiguous to the line should be described on the map, with the various roads communicating with them ; aud the existing bridges over the streams or rivers which are immediately below the proposed point of crossing theui should be carefully measured, and the span or waterway slated on the section. These preliminary precautions are absolutely necessary, to enable an engineer to fix upon the best line of road, with respect to general direction and longitudinal inclination. Without the unerring guide of actual measurement and calcu- lation, all will be guess and uncertainty. It may be laid down as a general rule, that the best line of road, between any two points, will be that which is the shortest, the most level, and the cheapest of execution : but this general rule admits of much qualification ; it must, in many cases, be governed by the comparative cost of annual repairs, aud the present and future traffic that may be expect- ed to pass over the road. Natural obstructions also, such as hills, valleys, and rivers, will intervene and frequently render it necessary to deviate from the direct course. HILLS. !>■ every instance of laying out a road in a hilly coun- try, the spirit-level is esscnliiiily necessary to j^how the ])ro- I 3 per line of road to be selected. The • ■ .:ral rule to be fol- lowed in surveys is to preserve the slra. , line, except when it becomes necessary to leave it to gain ihc rate of inclination that may be considered proper to be obtained, without ex- pensive excavations and embankments. When a deviation is made for this purpose, it becomes necessary to proceed in a direct line from a new point. Thus for instance, if it be decided to have no greater rate of inclination than 1 in 35, on a new line of road from a to B, (Plate I. Fig. 1.) and the Surveyor, when he arrives at the point o, finds a greater inclination than this, he must incline from the direct line to b — having then gained the summit of the hill, he does not endeavour to get back into the original straight line a b, but pursues the direct line b b, unless he is again obliged, from a similar cause, to deviate from it. This part of the survey being accomplished, it will then become necessary to examine the practicability cf making a direct line of road, between a and 6, instead of going to the point a. When hills are high and numerous, it sometimes ap- pears, from a perambulation and inspection of the country, to be advisable to leave the straight line altogether from the be- ginning, in order to cross the ridges, at lower levels by a cir- cuitous course, in the way represented by the dotted lines A.cd, in the above figure. It constantly happens that although inclinations, which do not exceed the prescribed rate, can be had without quitting the straigiit line, the ridges may be crossed, at many feet of less perpendicular height, by winding the road over lower points of them — but the propriety of doing so will depend upon the length that a road will be encreased by goiiig round to avoid passing the ridges in the direct line. The saving of perpendicular height to be passed over by a road, though a matter of so much importance and practical utility, has not hitherto received that allcntion from engineers whicii it de- serves. ^"N r T^jSS^^^^jI I'lE I 4 WliGii expeditious travelling is the object, the maximum rate of inclination that never should be exceeded in passing over hills, if it be practicable to avoid exceeding it, is that which will afford every advantage in descending hills, as well as in ascending them. For as carriages are necessarily re- tarded in ascending hills, however moderate their inclinations may be, if horses cannot be driven at a fast pace in going down them, a great loss of time is the result. This circum- stance is particularly deserving of attention, because the pre- sent average fast rate of driving over any length of road can be accomplished in no other way than by going very fast down the hills. But when the hills are very steep, and a coach- man cannot keep his time except by driving very fast down them, he exposes the lives of his passengers to the greatest danger. How much time is lost in descending steep hills will appear from the following statement : — Suppose a hill to be so steep as not to admit of a stage coach going faster down it than at the rate of six miles an hour, five minutes will be required for every half mile : but if the hill were of an in- clination of 1 in 35, it might be driven down with perfect safety at the rate of twelve miles an hour ; at which rate the time for going half a mile would be two minutes and a half, so that there is a loss of half a mile in distance for every half mile down the steep hill. Besides the loss arising from the additional horse-power required to draw over very steep hills, there are other cir- cumstances, which make it desirable to avoid them. In descending them, the drag becomes indispensably necessary. In coach travelling, the stopping to put it on and take it off, will be the Ipjs of at least one furlong to a coach travelling at the rate often miles an hour ; for in slacking the pace of the horses and before they stop, nearly one minute will be occupied. Wlicn coachmen, to save trouble, omit to put on the drag, or, as it sonictimus happens, when it breaks, travellers 5 are liable to the most dangerous description of accidents, by the overturning of a coach, when going at a great velocity. Even with the drag, heavy loaded carts are always taken by their drivers into the side channels of the road to try to check their speed ; and thus the channels are cut into deep ruts, or rather troughs, and the under-drains broken in, unless strong posts of wood or stone are set up, which are unsightly, and dangerous to other carriages, when descending at a quick rate. An inclination of J in 35 is found by experience to be just such an inclination, as admits of horses being driven in a stage coach with perfect safety when descending in as fast a trot as they can go ; because in such a case, the coachman can preserve his command over them, and guide and stop them as he pleases. A practical illustration that this rate of incli- nation is not too great, may be seen on a part of the Holyhead Road, lately made by the Parliamentary Commissioners on the North of the city of Coventry, where the inclinations are at this rate, and are found to present no difficulty to fast driv- ing, either in ascending or descending. For this reason it may be taken as a general rule, in laying out a line of new road, never if possible, to have a greater inclination than that of 1 in 35. Particular circumstances may no doubt, occur to require a deviation from this rule — but nothing except a clear case that the circuit to be made to gain the prescribed rate would be so great, as to require more horse labour in drawing over it, than in ascending a greater inclination, should be allowed to have any weight in favor of departing from this general rule. On any rate of inclination greater than 1 in 35, the labour of horses, in ascending hills, is very much increas- ed. The experiments detailed in the Seventh Report of the Parliamentary Commissioners of the Holyhead Road, made by a newly invented machine for measuring the force of trac- tion or power required to draw carriages over different roads, fully establish this fact. 6 m I Hilly ground is not always to be avoided, as being unfit for a road ; for if the hills are steep and short, it will often be easier to obtain good inclinations or even a level road, by cutting down the summits and laying the materials taken from them in the hollow parts. But this must be regulated by the expense to be incurred, which is a main consideration, that should always be scrupulously attended to before an engi- neer decides upon the relative merit of several apparently favorable lines. A perfectly flat road is to be avoided, if it is not to be raised by embanking at least three or four feet above the general level of the land on each side of it, so as to expose the surface of it fully to the sun and wind ; for if there is not a longitudinal inclination of at least 1 in 100 on a road, water will not run off, in consequence of which, the surface, by being for a longer time wet and damp than it otherwise would be, will wear rapidly away, and the expense of maintaining it in order by scraping it and laying on mate- rials, will be very much increased. The great fault of all roads in hilly countries is, that, after they ascend for a considerable height, they constantly descend again before they gain the summit of the country, which they have to traverse. In this way the number of feet actually ascended is increased many times more than is neces- sary, if each height, when once gained, were not lost again. As one instance among others, of the serious injury which the public sustains by this system of road-making, the road between London and Barnet, may be mentioned, on which the total number of perpendicular feet that a horse must now ascend is upwards of 1300, although Barnet is only 500 feet higher than London : and in going from Barnet to London, a horse must ascend nearly 800 feet, although London is 500 feet lower than Barnet. In tracing a road across a deep valley between two hills, it should be carried in a direction opposite to the fall of the valley, as by so carrying it, that is, by crossing the valley at the highest practicable point, the descent and ascent are diminished. RIVERS. The peculiar circumstances of a river may render it necessary to deviate from a direct line in laying out a road. A difficulty may arise from the breadth of the river re- quiring a bridge of extraordinary dimensions, or from the land for a considerable distance on the sides of the river be- ing subject to be covered with water to the depth of several feet in floods. In these cases it may appear, upon accurately calculating and balancing the relative inconvenience and expense of en- deavouring to keep as traight line and of taking a circuitous route, that upon principles of security, convenience and ex- pense, the circuitous course will be the best. In general rivers have been allowed to divert the direct line of a road too readily. There has been too much timidity about incurring the expense of new bridges, and about making embankments over flat land to raise the roads above the level of high floods. These apprehensions would frequently be laid aside, if proper opinions were formed of the advantages that arise from making roads in the first instance, in the shortest directions, and in the most perfect manner. If a mile, half a mile, or even a quarter of a mile of road be saved, by expending even several thousand pounds, the good done extends to posterity, and the saving that will be the result in annual repairs and horse labour, will, before long, pay ofT the original cost of the im- provement. •1 Ml BOGS AND MARSH OROUMD. The elastic nature of all bogs and marshes, and of aU boggy and bottom land, makes it impossible to form a road 3 1 ^isa-J 9 of perfect haiilness over a soil of this kind, unless a great deal of labour and expense is applied in draining the soil, and afterwards compressing it, by loading it with large quantities of earth embanked upon it, in order to destroy the elasticity of the subsoil. Although the surface coating of a road over such a sub- soil may be made with a great abundance of the hardest ma- terials, and be perfectly smooth, the porous and moist texture of the subsoil will cause the road to yield to a carriage passing over it, and thus, by destroying the momentum of it, add greatly to the labour of the horses in drawing it. For this reason it will generally be prudent to deviate from the direct line in laying out a new road, if by doing so this sort of subsoil can be avoided, without adding much to the length of it. But when the additional length of the road would be considerable, it will then be necessary to incur the expense of a proper drainage, and of forming so high an em- bankment, as to compress and harden by its weight the moist and porous subsoil. Such an embankment of 1740 yards in length, having this object in view, was made over Maldreath Marsh, in the Island of Anglesea, on the new line of the Ho- lyhead Road. MATERIALS. It will sometimes happen that road materials can be bet- ter obtained by carrying a line of road in one direction than in another. This will be a good reason for making a road de- viate from the direct line, because the expense of making and repairing it will much depend on the distance which materials have to be carried. EXPOSURE. It is necessary in making a road through a hilly country, to take particular care to give it a proper aspect. It is a great advantage to have a road on the north side of a valley fully exposed to the sun. For the same reason, all woods, high banks, high walls, and old fences ought to be avoided, in or- der that the united action of the sun and wind may have full power to produce the most rapid evaporation of all moisture. Too much attention cannot be bestowed on this object, in consequence of the effect of water in contributing to cut and wear down the hardest substances. It is for this reason that road materials, when they are wet or damp, wear rapidly away under the weight and pressure of heavy carriages. The hard- est limestones wear away very quickly when wet, and all stones of an aluminous character, and also gravel, that con- sists of flint, sandstone or other weak pebbles. The great advantage of having a road perfectly exposed to the action of the sun and wind, will be more accurately conceived, by referring to writers of science on evaporation. Dr. Halley states, that one-tenth of an inch of the surface of the sea is raised per diem in vapour. He also says, that the winds lick up the water somewhat faster than it exhales by the heat of the sun. Other writers say the dissipation of moisture is much accelerated by the agency of sweeping winds, tlio ef- fects being sometimes augmented five to ten times. Trees are particularly injurious by not allowing the sun and wind to have free action on the surface of roads in pro- ducing evaporation. It may sometimes be proper to make a road deviSte from a straight line, in order to go through a town ; but the expe- diency of such a deviation must wholly depend on the general object of the road. If it be intended to expedite the commu- nication, between two places of great trade, or otherwise of great importance, then nothing can be more erroneous than allowing the general line of road to be taken from the best and shortest direction, in order to pass through a town. It is for this reason that litlle ailention should be paid to the op- position of inhabitants of towns to new roads, when to be •rt:^. ""*^ hmIP 10 made for the advantage of the general cominuriication of dis* tant and important parts of the kingdom. Some persons maybe disposed to say, that a road should be made to deviate from a direct hne in order to avoid cross- ing parks, or demesnes, and, to a certain extent, no doubt it should ; but this motive ought not to be allowed to have much weight, where the consequence is to force the road over an inconvenient ascent, or to add very materially to its length. It should bo recollected, that, by judicious management, a road may be made, if not ornamental, at least not injurious or detrimental to the appearance or privacy of a park, by carrying it in hollow ground, or between sunk fences. The princi[)le of protection of private property is itself founded on the same principle that should govern the line of a road, and that principle is the public advantage ; and there- fore it should be laid down and acted upon as a general max- im, that private considerations ought in all cases to be made to give way, with respect to roads, to public convenience. " For let it be remembered that society is formed for the mutual and general benefit of the whole ; and it would be a very unjust measure to incommode the whole merely for the convenience, or perhaps the gratifying of the whim or ca- price of an individual." After fixing upon a general line of a road with respect to its direction, the precise line of it must be marked out, ac- cording to the smaller acclivities and declivities of the natural surface of the country it is to pass over. As moderate curves add but little to the length of a road, they will not be objec- tionable, if they assist the inclinations and save expense. 11 CHAPTER II. PHINCIP1.E8 or HOAD-MAKI^O, IN this chapter, the general principles will be examin- ed, according to which the arl of constructing roads should bo practised ; and the particular methods will be cx]>1ained, by which various kinds of roads should be constructed. The art of road-making, like every other art, must essentially de- pend for its being successfully conducted on its being exer- cised in conformity with certain general principles, and the justness of these principles should be rendered so clear and self-evident as not to admit of any controversy.* One of the most important and most obviously correct of these principles, is that which requires a road to be made of such a degree of substance, as shall be in a due proportion to the weight and number of the carriages that are to travel over it. Let the construction of any turnpike road, of one com- monly considered as among the best, be properly examined ; that is, let measure be taken of the quantity of hard-road ma- terials that compose the crust of the road over the subsoil, and it will almost universally be found that it consists of only from three to five, or six inches in thickness. Whereas, in- stead of this weak and defective system of road-making, it may be laid down as a general rule, that on every main road ♦ '• A knowledge of true principles is indispensably necessary in every art, and in that of making roads as much as in any other. Some prelimina- ry species of knowledge is very necessary in every superintendant or sur- veyor. A beaten track of knowledge is but a bad guide in cases which very frequently occur, when, amongst several ways, the best it to be preferred." — M. S. Haldimand, Secretary to the Bailiwick of Yverdun, on the Con- struction of Highways. ■ \ I z7«a71^v-^ fcr \2 !;|!i .111 II ! 'III wlictc iiuincroiis heavy \vngc;oiis nnd heavy lundod stuge coachus ai'u cniistniuly travelling, the proper degree of slreiigdi which such a road otiglit to have, cannot bo obtained except by forming a regular foundation constructed with huge stones, set as a rough pavement, with a coating of at least six inches of broken stone of the hardest kind laid upon it ; and further, that in all cases where the subsoil is elastic, it is necessary, before the foundation is laid on, that this elastic subsoil should be rendered non-clastic by every sort of contrivance ; such, amongst others, for instance, as perfect drainage, and laying a high embankment of earth upon the elastic soil, to com- press it. The right understanding of this principle of road-making, which rcrpiires roads to be constructed with four or five times a greater body or depth of materials than is commonly given to them, is of such great importance, that it is requisite to illustrate and establish the grounds on which it rests ; firrt, by reference to the laws of science concerning moving bodies, and secondly, by reference to experiments, which accurately prove the force of traction on difl'erent kinds of roads. As a carriage for conveying goods or passengers, when put in action becomes a moving body, in the langu.if^e of sci- tMice, the question to be examined and decided is, how a car- riage when once propelled, can be kept movinf^ onwards with the least possible quantity of labour to horses, or of force of traction. Sir Isaac Newton has laid it down as a general principle of science, that a body, when once set in motion, will continue to move uniformly fov-ard in a straight line by its momentum, t)ntil it be stopped by the action of some external force. This proposition is admitted and adopted by all natural philosophers as being perfectly true, and t' '^refore, in order to apply it to roads, it is necessary to enquire what kinds of external force act in a manner to diminish and destroy the momentum of carriages passing over ll'-^m. With respect to these external IS forces, tho general docirino is, that they ron»ijl ul-^Ui, Col* lision ; 2d, Frlcu.^i ; 3d, Gravity ; and i\h, Air. !st. The efTect of CoUision is very great in diminishing the momentum of cnrriages ; it is occasionrr) by und i* in proportion to the hard protuberances and other ini vious ; for if a body of small broken stones be laid on the natural soil, the weight of carriage wheels passing over it forces the lower course of the stones into the soil, while the soil is forced up into the inter- stices between them ; the clean body of stones, first laid on to make the road, is thus converted into a mixed body of stones and earth, and, consequently, the surface of the road cannot but be very imperfect as to hardness. It is necessa- rily heavy in wet weather, on account of the mud the earth makes on its surface ; and, in dry weather, on account of a quantity of dry dirt. A road made on this plan will require, for two or three years after it is said to be finished, the expending of large sums in new materials, to bring it into any thing like even an imperfectly consolidated state ; and, after all that can be done, such a road will always run heavy, and break up after severe frosts ; for, as the natural soil on which such a road is laid is always more or less damp and wet, it will necessarily keep the body of materials, of which the road is made, damp and wet ; in consequence of which, the surface of the 6 |V 32 road will wear down quickly. Hard frosts will penetrate through the materials into tho under soil, and, when thaws take place, break up the whole surface. It is in this way that the ruinous state of most roads, after severe frosts, is to be accounted for. i!<;ii m i.. . Roads made with Gravel. In a country where no stone can bo got for making a road, and nothing better than gravel can bo procured, the following plan of employing it may bo adopted : — When tho bed of the road has been formed, a coating of small gravel should be laid on, four inches thick, over the whole breadth of the road ; carriages should then be let to run upon it, and the ruts should bo raked in as soon as they appear. When the first coat of gravel has become tolerably firm, another coating, once screened, should be laid on, three inches thick, over the whole surface, and the ruts raked in as before. When this second coat of gravel is consolidated, a third should be laid on, three inches thick : this coat of gravel should be well riddled, and cleansed from all earth or clay, and all pebbles exceeding one inch and a half in diametei' should be broken before they are laid on the road. This process should be repeated until there is a body of gravet laid on the road sixteen inches thick in the middle, and ten at the sides, so as to form a convex surHice rising six inches from the sides to the centre. The strongest and best part of the gravel should be put on the middle fifteen feet of the road, and the small part of the gravel on the sides. In all gravel roads of this description the greatest care must be taken to drain the subsoil by a sufiicient number of cross and mitre drains, communicating witii the main drains. If this is not attended to, it will be impossible to form a good carriage way. A road made with gravel in the way hero recommended will be much stronger than gravel roads usually are ; but it '■..*yVt»JiJi' i'.iJ.-tVlV 'B ss vill be much inferior ic one made witli stone materials. The roundness of the gravel stones prevents thom from becoming consolidated by pressure, so as to form a perfectly hard road surface ; and when thp gravel consists of limestone, flint, freestone, sandstone, or other kinds of weak stone, it is so rapidly pulverised that the friction produced by wheels pass- ij3g over it, adds greatly to the labour of horses. } It »' f Hi m CHAPTER VII. ROAD MASONRY. i !,>: IN constructing roads, masonry is used in a great many cases, and too much pains cannot be taken to Iiavc it perfect both in plan and execution. BRIDGES. In arranging the plan of n bridge for a road, it should be considered how far it may be made subservient to improve the longitudinal inclination of a road, and save perpendicular height. When valleys are deep and narrow, the) may frequently bo passed without great inclinations in the roadway, by se- lecting a proper position, and building high piers and arches for a bridge, if a stream or river is to be crossed, as is usual- ly the case. On the other hand, when the land on each side of a rive^ is flat, the bridge should be kept low, to avoid an inconvenient ascent to the top of it. The lollowing are the prin ;ipal objects, with respect to bridges, which road-makers should have in view, viz. : — 1st, the most eligible situation as regards the direction of the road ; 2dly, the proper width for the roadway ; 3dly, the inclinations of the roadway over the bridge ; and 4thly, the number and span of the arches. The best situation for a bridge, as it respects a road, will evidently be that which preserves the most direct line : but, for the security of the bridge, it is desirable to have a straight reach above it, and no bend near it. The width of a bridge between the parapets should be regulated by the nature and quantity of traflic that is to pass over it. On turnpike roads near large towns the width should 35 be at least near forty feet. On tiirnplk* roid* in the country thirty or thirty-six feet will be sullicicnt, and on parish ronds, twenty or twenty-four feet. The inclinations of a roiuiway over a bridge should bo very moderate. On turnpike re ids they should never exceed one in thirty where it is possible to avoid it, withoiit incur- ring a great expense in fdling for the approaches, The num- ber and span of the arches must depend on various circum- stances, which can only bo taken into consideration by the engineer on the spot ; and even then much more must be left to his experience and judgment than can be derived from any precise rules as to the proper immber and size of the arches. It will be sufllcient to state that the main point to be at- tended to in every case is that the water way should be of ample dimensions, to allow the whole body of water to pass freely in the highest floods. For this purpose the bridges below the site of the pro- posed bridge should be carefully measured, and the eflects of floods upon them observed. This will be a good criterion for assisting in determining what the water way should be of the intended bridge. In making a plan and estimate of the expense to be in- curred in building a bridge, the most essential point to be fully examined and considered, is the securing of such a foun- dation as will be sufficient to preserve the stability of the edifice. An engineer should make accurate borings, to as- certain the nature of the sub-soil ; and when the slightest de- fect appears, piling should be used. RETAINING WALLS. Where the natural surface of a country is very rugged and precipitous, it will frequently be necessary to build re- taining walls.* * Tho wall which supports tlie road is called a breast wall ; tkul which 19 on the hill side of a road is called a relaining wall. T 36 I':'/ III' m iSr li'! "On sloping ground there must be a retaining wall along the up|5cr side ol^ the road eighteen inches wide at top ; its foundation to be laid at least four inches below the bottom of the side drains, and is to be carried up, so as to intersect the slope of the bank, when falling at the rate of two horizontal to one perpendicular, and the slope is to be formed in this manner for at least one yard from the back of the wall, by means of swarded turf or stone pavement. The face is to have a curved batter, at the rate of one intli and a half in every foot from the top : the back may be in the shape of a rough dyke wall ; but every one of the back stones are to be regularly connected with the body of the wall, and -not to depend upon the earth behind them." If a retaining wall be built of brick, the thickness at top should be one brick, or nine inches, and it should increase in breadth by onsets of half a brick at every eight courses to the level of the road, below which the thickness for the stepping of the foundation should increase half a brick at every four courses to the bottom. All walls of this descrip- tion should batter in a curve line on the face at the rate of one inch in every foot. BREAST WALLS. These walls are necessary for supporting earth or other materials when used for forming a road ; they should be built in the same way as retaining walls, and should increase, from one foot six inches in breadth at top, at the same rate as has been described for retaining walls. These walls should have a strong coping of large stones, set on edge in mortar of the best description. The following is a specification of a breast wall built across a very deep hollow, along an old road in North Wales on the Holyhead road : — " Across the hollow there i& to be a breast wall buill, in %.,■ 3T good lime and sand mortar, along (he foot of the lower slope of the present road, or thirty feet distant from the retaining wall. This breast wall is to be two feet and ti half thick at top, and to increase in thickness downwards at the rate of two inches and a half for every foot of depth, by a regular batter on the outside. There is to be a four-feet parapet Wall on the top, two feet thick at the bottom, and eighteen inches at the top." CROSS DRAINS. Cross Drains should be built of good masonry, eighteen inches in the clear. They should be continued under the fences into the ditches on each side of the road. When made of stone ma- sonry the side walls should be sixteen inches thick, faced on both sides, eighteen inches high at the upper end, and twen- ty three inches at the lower end. The top of the walls to be level, and the bottom of the drain to have an inclination of one inch in every ten feet. The stones at top on which the covers are to be laid are to project about two inches and a half into the open space on each side, leaving about thirteen inches clear between them ; the covers to be stone not less than four inches thick and twenty-seven inches long ; they should be neatly jointed and closely laid together, and properly bonded on the side walls ; a concave pavement of stones, not less than five inches deep, should be laid between the side walls. The body of the building should be placed so low, as to admit of six inches of earth to be laid between the cover of the draiit and the bottom course of the road materials, without elevating the surface of the road. The ends of the cross drain must be secured with a strong pavement, four feet three inches, by two feet three inches ; the paving stones below the disciiarging end should be of large stones, sunk so deep as to secure the whole from being in- jured by the current of water. &iM 33 m • to Vi i.. Hi i i iiiii )5 >» -; ■ When a cross drain is connected with a water course, the upper end should be secured with wing walls, at least five feet in length, and there should be the same walls at the lower end. These wing walls should be covered with two rows of swarded turf, the lower one with the swarded side down, and the upper one with the swarded side up. The following is a specification of a cross drain, five feet diameter, built on the Holyhead road : — " The arch to be hammer dressed course work, and the rest of good sound rubble work. It is to be in length the full breadth of the road and dikes. The faces to range with the faces of the breast walls, and the dikes to be continued over them. The breast walls, for ten feet from the face of each abutment, are to be built with mortar, and to finish by a pi- laster projecting four inches, to be three feet wide at the level of the road way, and increase in breadth downwards, by a matter of three-fourths of an inch, to a foot on each side. The dikes are also to be built in mortar between these pilasters. " Water wings are to be built into and extended from each abutment for eight feet in length and to splay back to eight feet apart at their extremities. They are to be founded at the same depth as the abutments, and be carried up to the level of natural ground. A stone pitching to be set between the abutments and water wings ; to be set endwise to the streams, and be firmly secured at each extremity. Except the stone pitching, the whole is to be built in good lime and sand mortar. The thickness of the water wing walls to be the same as spe- cified for the breast walls. Specification for a Three-feet Stone Drain. " The arch to be hammer-dressed, and the rest of the masonry good sound rubble-work. The abutments must be continued as water wings above and below the arch, for five feet in length, and be splayed back at their extremities. To 39 he founded as low as ihe abutments, and rise to the springing of the arch. A dry stoue pitching to extend under the arch and between the water wings. " Except the pitching, the whole to be set in good lime and sand mortar up to the level of the roadway. To be the full length of the breadth of the road and dikes. The faces to range with the faces of the breast walls, and the stone dikes to be continued across the arch in the usual manner. )> U) ;i'; 'f m ilf h!'J I'll ,1 !'!■ ! li' ' ,. liii? I 11:. . !!' '11 1 I CHAPTER VI IF. MXNAriEMENT OK ROAD WORKS. WHEN a new road is to be made, as soon as the pre- cise line of it is finally determined upon, the following cir- cnmsfances shonld be particularly attended to. I. Drawings to show, 1st, the natural surface of tiie ground ; 2nd, the longitudinal inclinations of the proposed road ; 3d, the slopes of the cuttings and embankments; 4th, the form of the bed of the road, and footpath ; and 5tb, the courses of materials to be laid on, and the thickness of each course. "vings should also be made, describing the plans of the L- 3, culverts, cross drains, inlets, outlets, depots, and ffc.. vhich arc required to be made. II. A specification should be prepared, to explain in detail the precise method of executing every part of the work. III. After the specification has been settled, an esti- mate should be made of the expense to be incurred. IV. The next step to be taken, is to make a contract for expcnting the work. Contract work is commonly supposed to be preferable to other work, for no other reason than because it is the cheapest, but experience shows that, when it is properly regulated, it is by far the best mode of securing sound and durable work. This, however, will not be the case if the contracts and specifications are prepared by unskilful and in- experienced persons, if inspection is omitted, and if the contractors are driven by excess of competition to make bad bargains. 41 But if the pliuis, specifications, iuul estimates lor mak- ing a road aie properly prepared, then the most safe and satisfactory way of having the work properly executed will be by letting it to a contractor. As there is no difficulty in making an accurate estimate of the sun) which a new road ought to cost, if a contractor of established reputation for skill and integrity, and possess- ing sufficient capital, is willing to undertake the work for the estimated sum, it will always be decidedly better to make an agreement with him than to advertise for tenders. If a contractor cannot be got, possessing the qualifica- tions which ho ought to have to justify a private an-angement, then an advertisement must be had recourse to. But when tenders are delivered in, it is very important to take care to act upon right principles in making a selection from them. The preference should invariably be decided on by taking into consideration the skill, integrity, and capital of the per- sons who make the tenders, as well as the prices which they olTer ; for if a contractor be selected without skill, or integ- rity, or capital, merely because his lender is for the smallest sum, the consequence will inevitably be imperfeci work, every kind of trouble and disappointment, and frequently expensive litigation. The true principle to go upon in selecting a contractor is to lean in favour of liberal terms ; and rather to overpay than underpay him. He should be made quite confident by his bargain, that he will receive a fair profit for his lime and labour ; he will then embark in his work with spirit, and be led by a desire to gain reputation to perform his agreement to the satisfaelion of all pvirties ; but when, in following an op- posite princij)le, a contractor is led by competition to under- take a work for a price that is too low, he starts, from the commencement, by having recours' ^o every species of contrivance for avoiding the fair fulfilment of what he is re- quired to perform ; every thing is doue in an inqierfecl way; -ili •J.:^ 42 sub-contracis nrc made at inadequate prices, a continual con- test is carried on between the contractor and the inspector, and most commonly the whole concludes in a law-suit, the ruin of the contractor and his securities, and great loss to tradesmen and others by debts due by the contractor and his workmen. V. After fixing upon a contractor, a deed of contract is to be prepared. In this the contractor should be bound to execute the work not only according to the general conditions contained in the deed, but also according to drawings and specifications to be annexed to it. The deed should contain a clause to provide that no de- viation should be made from it or the specifications, except by agreement in writing ; and also a clause to provide for settling all disputes by arbitration. The other clauses which are fit to be inserted in the deed will hereafter be described, by inserting an exact copy of a deed, according to which a part of the Holyhead Road was made. VI. Before the work is commenced, an inspector should be appointed to lay out the work, to settle the levels, and to see tliat every particular thing required to be done, is donii precisely according to the specifications. A person to be qualified to act as an inspector of a con- tract should have considerable experience as a civil engineer; he should be strictly sober and honest, and of reserved ha- bits ; he should avoid familiarity with those he is placed over ; his disposition should be somewhat inclined to be severe, but he should be actuated at all times by the highest principles of justice and honesty in his conduct. A chief engineer who is engaged in conducting public works, will o\.e his success in great measure to the skill and care with which he selects the inspectors of his contracts. The necessity of making such selections forms an essential })art of his occupation, and requires considerable talent.- to direct it. \ i3 Above all tilings, a cliicr engineer slioultl |)Obse ilie quality of securing implicit obedience frou» tliose under iiini, by showing a decided superiority in the know ledge of his pro- fossion, and by acting with unsparing severity whenever the occasion may require it. VII. It is of importance to arrange the mode of paying a contractor with punctuality ; by t!oing so he may be ke|)t un- der more control, and he will be able to perform his engage- ments in a more complete manner. For this purpose the deed of contract should provide that the work, as it proceeds, should be measured by the inspector every fourth week, and that a certificate should be given by him to the contractor for the value of the work that he finds executed according to the terms of the contract, deducting, in each certificate, one-tenth j)art of the sum, to be withheld till the whole work be finished. This plan affords the best description of security for the faith- ful performance of a contract. If, in place of acting upon a regular plan of paying a contractor, he is kept out of his money, he will often be placed in difficulties, and rendered incapable, however willing, to perform the conditions of his contracts in a perfect manner. n\ u CHAI'TKH IX. t- iMrnoviNu OLU hoaus. Mr. Telford gives the following account of the state of tlic Turnpike roads in 1S19, in his evidence before the Committee of the House of Commons on the highways of the Kingdom : — " With regard to the roads of England and Wales, they are in general very defective, both as to their directions and inclinations : they are frequently carried over hills, which might be avoided by passing along the adjacent valleys ; the shape, or cross sections and drainage of the roads are quite as defective, as the general directions and inclinations ; there has been no attention paid to constructing good and solid foundations ; the materials, whether consisting of gravel or stones, have seldom been sufficiently selected and arranged ; nnd they lie so promiscuously upon the roads, as to render it inconvenient to travel upon them, and to promote their speedy destruction. The shape of the road or cross section of the surface is frequently hollow in the middle ; the sides encum- bered with great banks of road dirt, which have accumulated in some places to the height of six, seven and eight feet ; these prevent the water from falling into the side drains, and also throw a considerable shade upon the road, and are great and unpardonable nuisances. The materials, instead of being cleaned of the mud and soil with which they arc mixed in their native state, are laid promiscuously on the road : this in the first place creates an unnecessary expense of carriage of soil to the road, and afierwardb', nearly an much in removing ii, be- sides inconvenience aiul obslruclion lo iravelliim;." 45 The commitico of 1610, attributing by thoir report, the itupcrfect state of the roads to the n£ghgcnt and culpable con- duct of the Trustees, who had thj inanagcpront of them, roused the attention of the pubhc to the subjci^t, and thus led to the introduction of an improved system of management. But although a considerable change ''or the better has taken place since 1819, many of the defects described by Mr. Tel- ford still remain ; and all that has been done towards remov- ing them, falls far short of what ought to have been done to put the turnpike roads into comj)lete order. In improving old roads, nearly the same objects should be attended to as are to be secured in making new ones ; such for instance, as the direction, the longitudinal inclinations, the breadth, form, and hardness of the surface, the drainage and the fencing. With respect to the turnpike roads as they now are, it will be found upon an inspection of them, that in regard to their direction they are universally defective. Scarcely any road between two places is in the best line with respect to distance and hills. The reason of this is, that the present lines of roads are the same, except those of roads made of late years, as they were when first established by the aboriginal inhabitants of the country, as footways or horse tracks. The first step which should be taken towards the improve- ment of the principal roads of the kingdom, is the making of surveys of the mail-coach roads : this work should be done by Government. The Engineers employed should pIso be re- quired to make plans and estimates for the improvements which may appear to be necessary : and the Trustees of every principal road should be furnished with copies of the surveys, and of the plan and estimates for improvements relating to the road under their care. The number of single mail-coach miles daily travelled in Great Britain, including pair-horse coaches, is 15,G04. The expense attending the surveying of them should not exceed 3/. ^ 4(> iiil a milo ; so thai the wholo expense to be incurred on this im> portnnt prchniinaiy step, fur the improvement of these roads, would not be of a largo amount. Whenever the improvement to be made on an old road does not require the present line to be departed from, the road should first be put into a proper form, according to the rules already laid down, in respect to the breadth and con- vexity of a road. A sufficiently strong crust of road mate- rials should then be laid on ; and particular care should be taken to provide a sufficient number of drains. Where the old road is below the level of the adjoining fields, it should be raised by embanking, so as to be, at least two feet above them. ^J. ^ 23 will be necessary to build the main-side drains of brick ; the side walls should be four inches thick, and three bricks high, and five inches apart, and covered with brick on the flat : these covering bricks should not be laid close together ; an interval of at least half an inch should be left between each to allow the water to enter the drain from above. In very wet clay soils, a flat tile should be laid at the bottom of the drain, sufliciently large to extend two inciies under eacli side wall ; a layer of brushwood, or straw, should be put over the bricks, and then the drain should be filled up with cleansed gravel or small stones. If springs rise in the site of the road or in the slopes of deep cuttings, stone or tile drains should be made into them, so as completely to carry away all the water. In cuttings it is necessary to make drains of small di- mensions from the centre of the road to the side drains. These drains should form an angle in the centre of the road, in the shape of a V, technically called mitre drains : the an- gle or splay of those dra ns should depend upon the inclina- tion of the road ; it should not make the inclination of the drains exceed one inch in 100 ; for if it be greater, the run of the water will undermine the sides, and injure them. These mitre drains should be nine inches wide at bottom, twelve inches wide at top, and ten inches deep. These drains should be placed at about sixty yards from each other, or about thirty in the mile ; but if the soil be wet, this num- ber should be considerably increased. They are to be filled with rubble stone or cleansed gravel. If gravel is used, a draining tile should be laid along the bottom before the gravel is put on. According to the inclinations of a road, and the form and wetness of the country throngh which it passes, cross drains of good masonry should be built under the road, having their exti amities carried under the road fences. One of these drains should be made wherever the water 5 ■i Ilk 21 would lio on ono side ol' the road, niid can only be got rid ol by carrying it to the other side. When the road passes along the slope of a hill or mountain, a great nunihor of those drains are necessary to carry ofi'tlic water that collects in the chan- nel of the road on the side next the high ground. They should bo placed at from 50 to 100 yards distance from each other, according to the declivity of the hill ; so that the side chan- nels niay not be cut by carrying water too far. In those situ- ations inlets should be built of masonry, to carry the water from the side channel of the road into the cross drains. Nu- merous outlets should also be tnadc from the side channels of the road, under the footpaths or wastes and fences, into the field ditches. In mountainous countries, where the road passes along the slopes of the hills, it is necessary to carry open or catch- water drains, branching from the upper ends of the cross drai.is, in an inclined direction, so as to catch the surface water be- fore it can reach the road. After ail these precautions have been taken, the preser- vation of the surface of the road from injury by water should be further secu-'ed, by giving to the surface of it a proper con- vexity in its cross section, and by making regular side chan- nels. These side channels will be formed by the angle where the slope of the side parts of the surface of the road abuts against the edge of the footpath, or other defining bounds of the roadway. They will be capable of carrying otl' a great quantity of water, without being made into the form of a square- sided drain. Attention to make the surface of a road of a proper con- vex form, is particularly necessary on liiu ?, in order that the water may have a tendency to fall from the centre to the sides, in place of running from the sides to uie middle part of the road, which it certainly will do, • nless the side channels are kept below the centre of the road, in thy manner licreafter described. or. On nil hills, ilic greatest care slioiilil, also, be taken to keep the side channels nlwnys open ; for, if they arc obstruct- ed with dirt, the water will find its way over the middle of the road, and cut channels in it. The side channels of a road should be all thoroughly repaired, ns well as all the road drains, before the approach of winter, and again after the winter is over ; but besides these repairs at fixed periods, daily atten- tion should bo given to tako care that no obstruction gets into them. In addition to all these means, recommended to be adopt- ed for securing the drainage of a road, it is of the utmost im- portance that evaporation should have full eflect in drying up the surface of a road, by allowing the sun and wind to act upon it, in the freest manner. The necessity of giving a road a good exposure has al- ready been mentioned, under the head of *' Laying out a Road ;" and the value of a rapid evaporation will be more fully explained when the repairing of roads is brought under consideration. If roads be kept dry, they will be maintained in a good slate with proportionally less expense. It has been well ob- served, that the statuary cannot saw his marble, nor the lapi- dary cut his jewels, without the assistance uf the powder of the specific materials on which ho i- acting ; this, when com- bined will) Willi r, produces suflii . ;tr irition to accomplish his purpose. A similar eflect is produced on roads, since the reduced particles of the material, when w'ct, assist the wheels in ra- pidly grinding down the siurface. ','( 'V 26 CHAPTER V. ', 'S uA I'Si : DIFFERENT KINDS OF ROADS, AND MODES OF CONSTRUCTiNO THEM. A Road with a Foundation of Pavement and a Surface of Broken Stones. " UPON the level bed prepared for the road materials, a bottom course or layer of stones is to be set by hand in form of a close firm pavement : the stones set in the middle of the road are to be seven inches in depth ; at nine feet from the centre, five inches ; at twelve from the centre, four inches ; and at fifteen feet, three inches. They are to be set on their broadest edges lengthwise across the road, and the breadth of the upper edge is not to exceed four inches in any case. All the irregularities of the upper pari of the said pavement are to be broken off by the hammer, and all the interstices to be filled with stone chips firmly wedged or packed by hand with a light hammer ; so that when the whole pavement is finished, there shall be a convexity of four inches in the breadth of fifteen feel from the centre. " The middle eighteen feet of pavement is to be coated with hard stones to the depth of six inches. Four of these six inches to be first put on, and worked in by carriages and horses ; care being taken to rake in the ruts until the surface becomes firm and consolidated, after which the remaining two inches are to be put on. " The whole of this stone is to be broken into pieces as nearly cubical as possible, so that the largest piece, in its longest dimensions, may pass through a ring of two inches and a half inside diameter. The paved spaces on each side of the eighteen middle feet are to be coated with broken I' I 27 stones, or well-cleaiiscd strong gravel, up to the footpaiii or other boundary of the road, so as to make the whole convex- ity of the road six inches from the centre to the sides of it ; and the whole of the materials are to be covered with a bind- ing of an inch and a half in depth of good gravel, free from clay or earth." The work of setting the paving stones must be executed with the greatest care, and strictly according to the foregoing directions, or otherwise the stones will become loose, and in time may work up to the surface of the road : when the work is properh executed, no stone can move. If the work be executed by contract, the inspector should see all the operations as they are going on. He should walk over the pavement when it is completed, and try whether the stones be firmly fixed : and he should not allow any broken stones to be laid on over the pavement till it has undergone an examination of this kind. In breaking stones, the workmen should be required to break them as nearly cubical as possible. When this rule is not attended to, a great quantity of materials is wasted by first splitting the stones into thin slices, and then breaking them into pieces that are too small, and too thin. If the stones or top metal are not broken very small, the proper degree of smoothness of surface will not be obtained. When stones are very hard, they never make a very smooth surface. Limestone will make a much smoother sur- face than whinstone and other harder stones, but they should not for this reason be preferred to harder stones ; for these will wear longest, carriages will run lighter over them, and the expense for scraping and repairing will be less. All the soft kinds of stones make heavy roads in wet weather ; and in dry weather there will be more friction upon roads made with them, because there will be more dust on their surface. The breadth of the road which has been described in the foregoing specification of thirty feet, is recommended as 28 : ;, i fully sufllcicnt for any road, except a road forming the ap- proach to a very populous city. The confining of a road to this breadth contributes very much to preserve the whole sur- fiice of it, from side to side, in a good state, and to diminish expense. B'or when a road is of greater breadth, the scrap- ing and repairing of the excess beyond thirty feet, costs an- nually a considerable sum. Mr. Telford says on this point, in his second Annual Report on the Holyhead Road, dated 17lh June, 1825 : — " He" (the surveyor of the Stonebridge and Birmingham Road) " seems to be still too much dispo- sed to prefer a road of a greater breadth than that recom- mended by me, of thirty feet : he should reflect, that every yard in breadth makes 17G0 superficial yards to be kept in good order in a mile, and therefore that a road of thirty-nino feet wide has 5280 superficial yards to be coated with mater- ials, and kept clean, more than a road of thirty feet wide. The additional expense of the wider road may be set down at 15/. a mile, and this rate for ten miles will make on his road an extra expenditure of 150Z. a year." With respect to the convexity of a road, it should be so arranged that it should be slight in the middle. In giving a convoAity of six inches to a road of thirty feet in breadth, the convexity at four feet from the centre should be half an inch ; at nine feet, two inches ; and at fifteen feet, six inches. This will give the form of a flat ellipsis. The binding, which in the foregoing specification is requir- ed to be laid on a new made road, is by no means of use to the road, but on the contrary, injurious to it. It is however, unavoidable, when a long piece of new road is to be opened ; for, without it, the wheels, by sinking into the new materials, would make the draught of the carriages much too heavy for the horses. This binding, by sinking between the stones, diminishes the absohilo solidity of the surface of ihc road, lets in water and frost, and contributes to prevent the com- plete consolidation of il;c mass of broken sloncd. 29 i? If the plan here laid down for constructing d road be faithfully executed, it will secure all the objects that can be required. From the moment it is first opened, it becomes daily harder and smoother, and very soon consolidates into as hard a mass as can be obtained by the use of broken stones. The subsoil of the road cannot get into a state of puddle, and rise up and mix with the surface materials, and thus produce those quagmires and deep ruts that are met with in wet weather on new roads made in the usual way. Although the expense of constructing a road on this plan may seem to be greater than that of making a road in the usual manner, taking on an average of five years, the joint expense of constructing and repairing such a road as the for- mer, it will be much less than that of constructing and re- pairing a road made by putting the surface materials on the natural soil, without a paved foundation ; for, in point of fact, such a road has usually lo be nearly new made every year, for some years after ii i^ . '• f )pened. This method of m ' j, roads with a foundation of pave- ment is described in French works on roads ; the following is taken from the Encyclopedic de V Jngmieur, vol. i. page 350. :— " The first course of stones are to be from ten to twelve inches long, and nine inches deep. These are to be set by the hand on the bed of the road, with their broadest faces down and their pointed ends upwards ; the interstices are to be filled up with stone chips. The upper course of stones is to be of the hardest kind, broken to the size of an inch cube, on a large stone, as an anvil. " This course is to be nine inches in thickness, so that the whole thickness of the two courses will be eighteen inches." The bed of pavement, for the whole width of the road, may, in some instances, be too expensive, in consequence of the difficulty of procuring proper stone. :30 w>u In such instances, it may be expedient to have onl) the eighteen middle feet of the carriage way with a foundation of pavement. In a district of country where any coarse sort of stone can be got for making a pavement, it will be cheaper to make a road with a pavement and six inches of broken stones, than with ten inches of broken ones, without a pavement. \'i Roadi made with a Foundation oj Rubble Stones, and Surface of Broken Stones. A USEFUL, road may be constructed by making a foun- dation with rubble stones, and laying broken slones or gravel upon them. The stones should be reduced so as not to have any of them more than four pounds in weight ; these should be laid in a regular bed, to the depth of seven inches in the middle and four inches at the sides, supposing the road to be thirty feet in breadth ; a coating of small broken stones should then be laid on in the way directed when a pavement is used. If the subsoil be clay, a course of earth, of any kind, that is not clay, of the thickness of six. inches, should be laid on the clay, to prevent it from rising and mixing with the stones. A road made according to the rules here given, will not be a very expensive one ; it will answer for cross turnpike roads, and ether ro..ds that do not communicate between large towns and collieries. This plan is much superior to and not more expensive than the next plan. A Road made wholly of Broken Stones. A ROAD may be constructed, suitable to light carriages and little traffic, by forming a level bed on the natural soil, and putting upon it a body uf broken stones, of twelve inches tai ii«8iliilti 47 CHAPTEK X. REPAIRING! ROADS. THE business of repairing a road should always be man- aged on a regular and fixed plan. The follow. iig matters require particular attention : — 1st. The quality of materials. 2d. The quantity to be put on per mile, per annum. 3d. The preparation of the materials. 4th. The method of putting them on the road. 5th. The number of labourers to be employed. 1st. With respect to the quality of the materials to be used, the hardest should always be preferred ; for it should ever be borne in mind, that hard stones brought from a distance are found by experience to be cheaper in the end than those of a softer kind which may be got near the road at a much lower price. Another reason for making use of the hardest materials that can be procured, is thegrectly increased labour of horses, which is occasioned by working into a smooth surface often renewed coatings of weak materials. With respect to the subject generally of road materials, it may be observed, that the best descriptions consist of basalt, granite, quartz, syen- ite, and porphyry rocks. The whinstones found in different parts of the United Kingdom, Ouernsey granite, Mountsorrel and Hartshill stone of Leicestershire, and the pebbles of Shrop- shire, StafFordshira, and Warwickshire, are among the best of the stones now commonly in use. The schistus rocks being of a slaty and argillaceous structure, will make smooth roads, but they are rapidly destroyed when wet by the pressure of 3 iS wlieels, and occasion great expense in scraping, and constantly laying on new coatings. Limestone is defective in the same respect, it wears ra- pidly away when wet, and therefore when the traffic on a road is very great, it is an expensive material. Sandstone is ge- nerally much too weak for the surfac j of a road ; it will never make a hard one. It is very wei apted to the purpose of a pavement, as a foundation for a ro .. Flints vary very much in quality as a road material. The hardest of them are nearly as good as the best limestone, but the softer kinds are quickly crushed by the wheels of carriages, and make heavy and dirty roads- Gravel, when it consists of pebbles of the hard sorts of stones will make a good road, particularly when the pebbles are so large as to admit of their being broken ; but when it consists of limestone, sandstone, flint, and other weak stones, it will not ; for it wears so rapidly, that the crust of a road made with it, always consists of a large portion of the earthy matter to which it is reduced. This prevents the gravel from becoming consolidated, and renders a road made with it ex- tremely defective with respect to that perfect hardness which it ought to have. 2d. With respect to the quantity of materials to be put on a road in the course of a year, this should be regulated by the traffic on the road and the durability of the materials. The object to be secured, is the giving to the road a sufficient de- gree of strength to have it at all times smooth and hard. The materials to be provided should be quarried, carted and bro- ken by contract. The materials when brought in their rough state to the road should be packed in depots, or laid up on the wastes, in regular shaped heaps, so as not to interfere with the side channels of the road. 3d. When the materials are stone, they should be bro- ken as before described for making new roads, to a size of a cubical form, not exceeding two inches in their largest dimen- sions. 49 the ith When gravel is used, the persons who dig it, should be required to pass it through sieves, before it is carted to the road, so that no gravel pebble, less than one quarter of an inch in diameter, ■should be carried from the pits to the road. When the gravel is brought to the road, it should be again sifted by the road labourers, so as to separate the pebbles that are less than three quarters of an inch in diameter from the rest, and all the large pebbles exceeding one inch in diameter should be broken. 4ih. The materials after they have been properly pre- pared, should be laid on in small quantities at a time : care should be taken to fill up ruts or hollows as soon as any appear. In those places where the surface of the road has become much worn, a coating of one inch and a half of materials should be laid on : that is to say, a coating only a single stone in thickness, when stones are used ; and when gravel is used, a coating not exceeding one inch in thickness. If more mater- ials are necessary, they should be laid on after the first coating is worked in. The work of repairing roads by laying on new coatings of materials, ought to be done between the months of October and April, and when the surface of the road is wet. By laying on the materials at this season of the year in thin coat- ings, they are soon worked into the surface without being crushed info powder, and without producing any great dis- tress to horses drawing carriages over them. 5th. When the funds will admit of it, a road should be divided into districts of four miles each ; and a foreman, with three labourers, should be appointed f^r each district. The foreman and one or more of the labourers should be daily on the road, taking care that the side channels of the road are kept clean, and making good any injury to the road as soon as it appears. The foreman should work with the men : he should take care that the orders of the surveyor are attended to, and be able to measure road work. mmmS 50 A regular plan should be anangccl, and strictly adhered to, for keeping the water channels and drains of a road al- ways open, and free from din. In the month of October in each year, every water channel and drain should undergo a general repair, and be cleared of all deposited earth and weeds. At the same time, the surface of the whole road should be scraped, all ruts and hollows should be carefully filled with materials, and all weak parts of the surface coated with ma- terials ; that is to say, the road should be put in every res- pect into a complete state of repair, so as to preserve it from being broken up during the approaching winter. A road should be scraped from time to time, so as .lever to have half an inch of mud upon it ; this is particularly ne- cessary to be attended to, when the materials are weak ; for if the surface is not kept clean, so as to admit of its becom- ing dry in the intervals between showers o( rain, it will be rapidly worn away. The road men should scrape from the centre to the sides ; the mud should not be scraped into or allowed to re- main in the channels, as is too frequently the case ; but put into small heaps, about one foot from the side channels, so as not to stop the running of water in them. These heaps should always be removed, the moment the mud is sufficiently dry to admit of i being put into carts or barrows. Constant attention on the part of a road surveyor is ne- cessary to keeping hedges clipped and the branches of trees in the fences lopped. The hedges should be cut so as to be as low as they can be kept, without making the fence unfit for confining cattle within them. The superior condition of roads, at all times, crossing uninclosed land, shows how valuable a full exposure to the sun and wind is, in contribut- ing to the preservation of roads. 51 CHAI'TEK XII. ROAP LCUISLATIUN. Turnpike Syslan. IT is owing to the turnpike system ofioiul inanaj^cincnt, that England is so superior to otiicr countries witii respect to her public roads. The Legislature, by giving powers to persons willing to come forward as subscribers, comniissioners or trustees, and act together for the purpose of making new roads, or improv- ing old ones, adopted the wisest principle for securing an abundance of good roads. Had the Legislature refused to incorporate those persons who have executed the duties of turnpike trustees, and given the management of the roads to the Government, or left them wholly with the parishes, this country could never have reach- ed the degree of wealth and prosperity to which it has arriv- ed, for want of proper means of inland communicntion. It must be quite clear to every one who has carefully examined this subject, that nothing but leaving the manage- ment of the roads to those persons who live in their neigh- bourhood, would ever have induced the people of England to pay as they now do, a road revenue, arising from turnpike tolls, to the amount of £1,200,000 a-year : for although tolls are in every respect fair and proper for maintaining a road ; and although Government, by employing scientific engineers, might have expended the produce of them with greater skill than country gentlemen ; the hostility to pay them, if they had been wholly at the disposal of Government, would no doubt have prevented the making of useful roads, -•- ■■■*' ■Ml !i'! 1 1 I* f I 52 so universally over the whole couiilry as they have been iuaclc uiulor the cstnhlishcd system. It should be remembered that turnpike roads owe their origin, in many instances, to private subscriptions of consi- derable amount ; and in every such case, the main induce- ment to subscribe must have been the entrusting of the man- agcm ;nt of the funds to the subscribers, and giving them cor- porate powers. The same principle of association has led to the making of the canals, tlic docks, the great bridges, and all the most useful public works of the country ; and it is not conceivable how such large funds for making new roads, or for convert- ing parish roads into turnpike roads, could have been obtain- ed as have been obtained, if the legislature had not acted on this principle. But although it is unquestionably true, that it is lo the turnpike system that the abundance of useful roads is owing, it must at the same time be observed, that great errors have been committed in carrying the system into operation. For however numerous and however useful the roads may be, they are, as has been already stated more than once, ex- tremely imperfect, in comparison with what they might and ought to be. In respect to the lines of direction, it has been observed that the roads are every where extremely faulty. They have, commonly, been carried over all the hills, between the points of communication, when they might have been kept on com- paratively level ground, along the valleys of the country. While the most magnificent improvements have been going forward in all other kinds of public works, displaying the greatest efibrts of human skill, and a rapid advancement in the science of civil engineering, scarcely any road can be pointed out, except a few, which have been put under the management of civil engineers, that is not defective in the most essential particulars. Who is to blame for this ? Not ^4 s u. 53 tho Government, because the business is not in its hanils' The Icuding men of the commercial and manufacturing classes, who iiave been chiefly concerned in forming companies for making canals, docks, bridges, and other splendid improve- ments, are not to blame, fr they have been too generally excluded from the business of road management. Nor are the civil engineers of Great Britain to biame, because they have seldom been consulted ; on the contrary, this profession has been too commonly deemed, by turnpike trustees, as something rather to be avoided, than as useful and necessary to be called to their assistance. The country gentlemen of England in point of fact, are alone responsible for the defective state of the roads, be- cause the business of managing them has been vested by tho Legislature exclusively in their hands. Dr. Adam Smith bears testimony to the bad manage- ment of road trustees in his time. He says : — " The mo- ney levied is more than double of what is necessary for ex- ecuting, in the completest manner, the work, which is often executed in a very slovenly manner, and sometimes not ex- ecuted at all." This remark, in too many coses, is just as applicable now, as it was when first made, nearly sixty years ago. In those instances where a turnpike road is used merely for local purposes, hov»ever defective it may be, those per- sons only are put to inconvenience, who live near it ; but where a turnpike road forms the communication between populous cities or towns, at a considerable distance from each other, then the misconduct of trustees, whether arising from negligence, ignorance, or corruption, is of serious import- ance, and loudly calls for correction and control. We shall now proceed to s ate what appear to be the principal errors, which have been committed in our road legislation in giving effect to the turnpike system. According to the provisions of every turnpike act, a |l ! 5i li great niiinbcr of persons arc named as trustees : the practice is to make ahnosi every one a trustee, residing in the vicinity of a road, who is an opulent fartnor or tradesman, as well as all the nobility and persons of large landed properly ; so that a trust seldom consists of fewer than 100 persons, even if the length of the road to be maintained by them does not exceed a few miles. The result of this practice is, that in every set of Tru; tecs there are to be found persons who do not possess a single qualification for the office ; persons who conceive they are raised by the title of a road trustee to a station of some importance ; and who too often seek to show it, by opposing their superiors in ability and integrity when valuable improvements are under consideration ; taking care too frequently, to turn their authority to account, by so directing tiic spending of the road money as may best pro- mote the interest of themselves or their connections- It sometimes happens that if one trustee, more intelligent and more public spirited than the rest, attempts to take a lead, and proposes a measure in every way right and proper to be adopted, his ability to give advice is questioned, his pre- sumption condemned, his motives suspected ; and as every such measure will, almost always, have the effect of de- feating some private object, it is commonly met, either by direct rejection or some indirect contrivance forgetting rid of it. In this way intelligent and public spirited trustees be- came disgusted, and ceased to attend meetings ; for besides frequently experiencing opposition and defeat at the hands of the least worthy of their associates, they are annoyed by the noise and language with which the discussions are carried on, and feel themselves placed in a situation in which they are exposed to insult and ill usage. Numerous, cases could be quoted to prove the accuracy of what is here stated ; but it is unnecessary to do so, because every one acquainted with the subject, who reads these re- marks, will readily allow their general correctness, and be 55 prepared to adinit, that the tketcU might easily have beoii still more highly coloured. There ia one effect of having these large bodies of man- agers, which is particularly deserving of notice, and that is the necessary want of uniformity and system in their mea- sures. It often happens that, when some important business is to be performed, one set of ten or twenty trustees, after devoting a great deal of their time in attending meetings, finally decide upon some useful measure, when another set of trustees summon a meeting, and rescind all their fellow trustees have done. This is a course of proceeding which is, of itself, sufficient to establish, beyond all dispute, the ab- solute necessity of some considerable change in the existing system. Notwithstanding the state of the Turnpike roads was enquired into by select committees of the House of Com- mons, in the sessions of 1819, 1820, and 1823, and in consequence of their reports a new general turnpike act was passed in 1823, the evil of the mal-administration of the powers of trustees has not been cured by the 153 clauses contained in this act. The evil in point of fact, having its source in the principle on which the governing body of road business is formed, is not of a nature to be cured by a multi- tude of regulations ; and the framers of the law committed a great error in overlooking this point. It is the principle of having such a number of trustees that throws every thing be- longing to road operations into confusion, and produces tb'^ waste of the road funds. A law therefore, to do any goou% should provide that the number of trustees shall be limited within some rational bounds. The Committee of the House of Commons appointed in 1823 to enquire into the state of the turnpike roads, say, in their report, — <' Your committee would therefore strongly recomfiitnd to the House the consideration of the subject of ■mmnmm Mj