Evening Republican, Volume 17, Number 74, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 27 March 1913 — Road AND ROAD MAKING [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

Road AND ROAD MAKING

EFFECT OF WATER ON ROADS. Instead of Being Injurious it Keeps a Road in Good Condition. It has been said that water is the worst foe of good roads. Strange as It may seem, water is also the best friend of a good road—a good road is impossible without it. Whether water Is friend of enemy depends on the amount that is present. With too much or too little water, good roads are inpossible—there must be Just enough for the road to be at Its best. The reason for this is simple when once understood. It is Just this. Most rocks and soils—in fact, practically all except sandstones and sand soils—have the property of absorbing water and formlng a jelly-like film about each grain. When the soil Is saturated with water these grains with their jelly-like coatings are almost floating and have little tenacity—they slide over each other as though greased. When thiß is the case the particles cannot hang together, consequently a foot or- wheel sinks right through the material, and we say the road is muddy. When a part of the water dries out these tiny films get more sticky and cling to each other with considerable tenacity. When this is the case we say the road Is thoroughly cemented and the road is in prime condition If it is not rutted up. You have all Seen rondo la Lhis condltion when the bottom of a well-traveled rut in a clay road gets almost as hard as a rock. Clay possesses this cementing quality in a high degree, and the reason the rut gets so hard is that when the particles were wet and the absorbed water had developed those jelly-like films the wheels presseed them tight together. Consequently when the road dried the clay particles dried all In one mass. If this Is allowed to get too dry the mass becomes brittle and beats up Into dust. It is in this way that lack of water Is unfavorable to good roads. This principle applies to macadam and gravel roads as well as to dirt roads. The material used must have the proper amount of cementing power or It will not be a success. There must be enough fine dust to fill the spaces between the larger pebbles and serve to cement them together. The material should be just hard enough so that the new dust worn off by the traffic will exactly replace that oarried away by rain and wind. If the material is too hard, not enough dust is worn off and the road wilf be muddy or dusty. Consequently the kind of rock used should be suited to the amount of trafl|f:. With clay, loam and limestone reads very little water is needed to keep the road in good condition. The road should therefore be well rounded up and provided with good ditches made on such grade that the water will not stay in them and soak in to soften the foundation. With sand roads the situation is different. Sand has no cementing qualities and is at its best when saturated with water. Sand roads should therefore not be rounded up nor ditched at the side any more than is absolutely necessary to keep water from standing on the surface. The water should be prevented from evaporating by encouraging the growth of grass and shade trees.

On these simple, easily understood principles all road building, that is properly done, must be based. One of the best means of applying these principals on common clay or loam roads is the split-log drag. It is used when the road is moist—when the tiny particles of clay and loam have been softened by water. A tiny layer of this plastic material Is worked over, kneaded together and packed down over the surface of the road, where la dries into a hard, firm coating. It Is left smooth, so that no water stays in ruts and no clods are formed to beat up into dust. Repetitions of this process add layer after layer of hard, well-pyd-dled material that Is nearly impervious to water, until after a few years of this the road has a thick, solid brlck-like coating that sheds water like a roof and Is able to hold up even through long-continued wet periods. Is there cause for surprise In the fact that some of the 'wealthier of the property owners of an Illinois town protested against paving ths streets, while a washerwoman declared that she was willing to work harder to help pay for putting down paving that would keep people out of the mud?