Evening Republican, Volume 21, Number 196, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 4 September 1917 — CONTINUOUS MAINTENANCE OF HIGHWAYS [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

CONTINUOUS MAINTENANCE OF HIGHWAYS

As soon as a road is constructed, the action of traffic and the weather begin to destroy it, and to counterbalance .the effects of these deteriorating influences it is necessary to institute some system of maintenance. There are two common ways of maintaining a road. One is to make periodic repairs or renewals after sections of the road have been practically destroyed; the other is to employ a system of continuous maintenance under which all injuries to the road are repaired as fast as they occur. For earth, sand and gravel roads the system of continuous maintenance is much preferable from practically every standpoint, and that system alone will be discussed here. Road Drag. , The road drag is a simple and inexpensive device for maintaining certain types of roads which, when wet, become rutted under traffic but which become firin on drying out. It is useful also in producing a smooth and uniform surface on newly constructed roads of earth, earthy gravel, or any similar material. The accompanying Illustration shows a typical design for a road drag made of sawed timber. Properly used at the right time the drag performs four distinct functions: first, by moving at an angle with the traveled way, it tends to produce or preserve a crowned cross section; ond, if used when the surface is comparatively soft. It tends to reduce irregularities in the road, by moving material from points which are relatively high to those which are relatively low; third, when used after a rain It accelerates the drying out of the road by spreading out puddles of water and thus exposing a greater area to evaporation; fourth, if the surface material is in a slightly plastic state, dragging smears over and partially seals the so-called pores which naturally occur in earthy material, and thus makes the road surface more nearly impervious to water. To obtain the best results dragging should be done only when the surface of the road is sufficiently moist for the material moved by the drag to compact readily after it is moved, but not sufficiently wet for traffic following the drag to produce mud.

The principal factor in successfully operating a properly constructed road drag, provided the condition of the road is favorable, is skill on the part of the operator. Such skill can be obtained only by intelligent experience, and no rules can be laid down which would enable an inexperienced operator to produce first-class results. Under ordinary circumstances the position of the hitching link on the draw chain should be such that the ; runners will make an angle of 60 to 75 I degrees with (he center line of the I road, or, in other wonds, a skew angle ’of from 15 to 30 degrees. But when . dragging immediately over the ruts, ; or down the center of the road after ■ the sides have been dragged, it may ; be found advantageous to place the , hitching link at the center of the chain j and run the drag without skew. An in- ' telligent operator-will learn quickly to ' adjust such details as this, as well ! as to shift his weight while riding upon the drag in order to make it cut where cutting is desirable, and deposit material where material is needed. Making Repairs. If roads of such types as have been discussed are to be maintained properly, they must frequently receive other attention than mere dragging. The side ditches should be kept open and free from vegetation, the cross drains and culverts maintained in proper condition, and worn places in the surface repaired as fast as they develop. The material used in repairing the surface should be the same as that composing the surface and should be put on In such quantity and manner that after it is compacted the surface will be uniform and continuous. Much time and labor can be saved by making repairs as soon as needed, because when a bad place once develops in a road it generally will spread very rapidly until proper steps are taken to correct it. Cost of Maintenance. There are not sufficient cost data available at present to warrant any very definite statements ns to cost of maintenance, but when roads can be maintained largely by use of the drag, as usually is the case with the simpler types of construction, the cost ordinarily is very small- Accurate data kept by; a representative of the office of public roads for road maintenance in Bennington county, Vermont, during 1912 and 1913 showed that under favorable conditions a road could be dragged at the rate of about 1 mile per hoar. This was where the road was comparatively well shaped

and only one trip In each direction was necessary. Where more trips, of the drag were required the rate w’as, of course, correspondingly diminished. In this way county teams with drivers cost from $3.50 to $5 per working day of. from 8 to 10 hours, and the cost per mile for dragging a road in one trip showed a corresponding variation. The number of draggings necessary per year varied over a wide range and depended on the length of time the road had been constructed and the character of the material composing the road. The average cost per mile of dragging an earth road 8 miles long in Alexandria county, Virginia, during 1911 and 1912 was $1.25 for each dragging, which, included an average of three round trips, and the total number of draggings necessary to maintain the road in good condition was 24 per year, making the average cost for dragging S3O per mile per year. This road was maintained as an experiment by the office of public roads and rural engineering.

TYPICAL DESIGN OF SAWED-LUM3ER ROAD DRAG.