Road marking

“ MAINTENANCE
23.21 Road markings, including reflecting road studs, must be well maintained if they are to fulfil their purpose. Regulatory markings must be maintained properly if they are to be enforced effectively. ”

“ Roads are never as bad as report makes them, and this besides being far less narrow than many mountain passes we had been through, was beautifully graded on the turns, and in excellent condition. We passed several steep ravines at curves,—one where a car had overturned the week previous,—but none was as bad as we had been led to expect. Thanks to the sane regulation making it a one way road we had nothing to fear from traffic. Valleys, blue and red with a magnificent sweep of flowers, dropped down, down, and new mountains rose from unexpected coverts. ”

“ We found the roads in most places worthy of the name “highways”; but on the steepest grades, where the outside of the road shelves off into space, with a drop of hundreds of feet, there are no walls or fences, not even railings, to prevent accidents. In the main, the roads are sufficiently wide to allow two cars to pass; in some places, however, the smaller car must back down to a siding to allow the Government cars, which have the right of way on the inside of the road, to pass. ”

“ Some ten minutes’ driving, up a hill or two, while lamps grow less and less frequent, and we are out of the town, rolling along a road which is as good as an ordinary English turnpike-road—passing every now and then through spots of perfect darkness, where clumps of firs overhang the road on each side, and new again looking over a broad spread of water stretching away from our feet, with a row of distant wooded slopes appearing more and more clearly as the moon slowly rises. ”

“ Some road surveyors contend that for gravelled roads 6-ton rollers are heavy enough, for macadam roads 12-ton rollers.
[51] Traffic in making a roadway is apt to grind off the sharp edges and spoil the metal before it is set. ”

“ Should circumstances not admit of the use of an avenue, the drive should be as direct as may well be, and if curved, there should be some clear and obvious justification for the curve or divergence; it should be clear that the road is diverted to obtain a glimpse of open country that would otherwise be missed, or that a steep hill or awkward dip is thus avoided. The irregularity in the line of the road should not, however, be the occasion of any break in the gradient of the road, which should be continuously even throughout. ”

“ Beyond Poitiers the road is one long, exhilarating switchback—you rush down one hill, climb another, swoop again into a hollow, and so on, the road unrolling itself like a great white tape. You try to drive faster than the tape unrolls, but somehow you can never beat it. ”

“ And be it further enacted, That all parts of the road which the President shall direct to be made, in case the trees are standing, shall be cleared the whole width of four rods; and the road shall be raised in the middle of the carriageway with stone, earth, or gravel and sand, or a combination of some or all of them, leaving or making, as the case may be, a ditch or water course on each side and contiguous to said carriageway, and in no instance shall there be an elevation in said road, when finished, greater than an angle of five degrees with the horizon. ”

“ By 'roads' must be understood bridle-paths, worn by traffic alone across the gravelly valleys, but elsewhere constructed with great toil and expense, as Nature compels the road-maker to follow her lead, and carry his track along the narrow valleys, ravines, gorges, and chasms which she has marked out for him. For miles at a time this road has been blasted out of precipices from 1,000 feet to 3,000 feet in depth, and is merely a ledge above a raging torrent, the worst parts, chiefly those round rocky projections, being 'scaffolded,' i. ”

“ When we had finished, I bade my friends lie down, one on each side of me, so that I might use the flashlight for a thorough scrutiny of the map. I recognized the road on our right without difficulty. It was a second-class one, and divided the angle between the two highroads. As to direction it was entirely favorable; as to safety it was preferable to a first-class highway. A brook was marked on the map as flowing across it not very far away, and this was of almost greater importance than anything else, for we had not been able to fill our water-bottles. ”

“ The unfortunate motorist is perhaps ploughing his way steadily along through the gravel, dust, and sand. He encounters a barrier across the road bearing a notice that repairs are going on and that he must follow the detour indicated. The road selected, I believe, is generally the one with the most pot-holes, ruts, mountains, canyons, etc., in its formation in the surrounding district. ”

“ For mile after mile I now alternately ride and trundle along donkey-paths, by the side of an artificial highway that would be an enterprise worthy of a European State. The surface of the road is either gravelled or of broken rock, and well rounded for self-drain- age; it is graded over the mountains, and wooden bridges, with substantial rock supports, are built across the streams; nothing is lacking except the vehicles to utilize it. ”

“ While the gradients are generally easier than in the States, there are in many places sharp hills where the car must be kept well under control. But the beauty of it is that in Britain one has the means of being thoroughly warned in advance of the road conditions which he must encounter.
Pg 7The maps are perfect to the smallest detail and drawn to a large scale, showing the relative importance of all the roads; and upon them are plainly marked the hills that are styled "dangerous." These maps were prepared for cyclists, and many of the hills seem insignificant to a powerful motor. ”

“ The road is built above and overlooks the plain. No pains in the original construction of twenty-odd centuries ago, nor since in its remodification or repair, has been spared towards making it an eternal highway down which as a vast speedway a half-dozen cars might race abreast. ”

“ At these points the road is partly blasted out of the solid granite rock, and the width increased by beams of rough pine, which project over the precipice; but it is yet too narrow for vehicles to pass each other, except at certain points. There is, of course, no protecting wall; the road overhangs the precipice, and nothing is to be seen supporting the platform on which you stand—a terrible place to drive along, as we afterwards found. The road has been made, in this skilful and laborious manner, from where it first strikes the Thompson to Yale, a distance of nearly 100 miles. ”

“ The effect of the traffic thus tabulated, arranged, and reduced to ton yards per annum, can be ascertained upon any roadway, and Mr. Deacon has given the results of his observations in a valuable paper on the subject of street carriage pavements which he read before the Institution of Civil Engineers. [7]
Sir John MacNeill has estimated that 80 per cent. of the total wear of a road is due to traffic, the remaining 20 per cent. being due to atmospheric causes. Of this 80 per cent. 60 per cent. he considers is due to the action of horses’ hoofs where the traffic is fast, and 44·5 per cent. ”

“ It has occurred to me, as I stated to the chairman of this honourable Committee some weeks since, that considerable improvement would be found from paving the sides of a road, upon which the heavy traffic is great, in both directions, and leaving the middle for light carriages, the carmen walking upon the footpaths or sides of the road, would then be close to their horses, without interrupting, or being in danger of accidents from light carriages, which is the case when they are driving upon the middle of the road ”

“ Another great mistake is often made of spreading large and small stones over a well-graded and well-drained foundation and leaving them thus for traffic to consolidate. The surface of a road left in this manner is often kept in constant turmoil by the larger stones, which work themselves to the surface and are knocked hither and thither by the wheels of vehicles and the feet of animals. ”

“ A reconnaissance survey may be made quite rapidly from an automobile. Two men are necessary. The engineer will ordinarily drive while the topographer will be supplied with a clip board and ruled sheets of paper. The straight line up the center of the sheet represents the roadway. Small squares on the sheets represent distances and areas. The scale should be made according to the work. On a road with few houses and few topographical features to be recorded 1 inch to the mile might be sufficient. ”

“ When a new road is laid out it is important that it should be located in the best attainable place, considering the natural formation of the surrounding country; for when a highway is once established it is impossible to say how long the tide of humanity and commercial traffic will seek passage over it. While the ordinary processes of Nature—rain, thaw, and frost—are ever at work lowering the hills and mountains and filling up the valleys and lowlands, the public highways of a country remain in the same relative positions from age to age. ”

“ The grade is the most important factor to be considered in the location of roads. The smoother the road surface, the less the grade should be.
Whether the road be constructed of earth, stone, or gravel, steep grades should always be avoided if possible. They become covered at times with coatings of ice or [Pg 94] slippery soil, making them very difficult to ascend with loaded vehicles, as well as dangerous to descend. ”

“ Street and road construction and maintenance, including curbs, sidewalks, street lights, and devices to control the flow of traffic on streets and roads constructed by counties and municipalities or any combination thereof. ”

“ You have, with the new traffic, to consider a gradient somewhere between the old road gradient and the railway gradient. There, again, it is for experts to determine what the maximum useful gradient should be. The trouble in our present road system is that in any trajectory you will have one or two places where the new traffic is perilous. There are even exceptional points in England where it is almost prohibited by excessive gradients. ”

“ When a track is once formed in this stone-heap, it is not to be expected that the horses will be easily made to move out of it; and unless the thoroughfare is considerable, the road in use consists sometimes for a long period, of the two deep wheel tracks, which are always filled with water during the winter, and of the horse’s path between them, the other parts being covered with a body of loose stones, and rendered absolutely useless. These observations apply to some lengths of the most frequented highways, but are more particularly applicable to the cross roads and the parish roads. ”

“ To simplify the matter somewhat, the different classes of traffic to which roads are subjected may be divided into five groups, which may be called city, urban, suburban, highway, and country road traffic, respectively. City traffic is a traffic so great that no macadam road can withstand it, and is such as exists on the business streets of large cities. ”

“ So insist that your road be properly drained, well located, taking advantage of every topographic condition. No grade should exceed a rise of 5′ in 100′, and lastly that you keep and take sufficient right of way to allow for ditches and any increase in width your road may require in the years to come . ”

“ There has scarcely been a portion of the roadway which has not been widened. In most places it has only been to the extent of a yard or a little more, but the heaviest works in connection with the road it has been found necessary to execute have been at its sharp turns or zig-zags, and in passing along the villages which are studded along the entire length of the pass ”

“ In selecting a road material it is well to consider the agencies of destruction to roads that have to be met. Among the most important are the wearing action of wheels and horses' feet, frost, rain, and wind. ”

“ Before the adoption of scientific road-making, the usual way of forming a new road was, first to lay along it a collection of large stones, and then to heap up thereon small stones and road dirt in such a way that the road assumed the shape of the upper half of an orange, the convexity often being so pronounced that vehicles kept along the summit of the eminence because it was dangerous for them, especially in rainy weather, to go along the slope on either side. ”

“ This road, being almost a street, had been paved, but, the king explains, it is “so full of holes and bogs . . . and the pavement is so damaged {85} and broken,” that the traffic has become very dangerous for men and carts. ”

“ Every foot added in width, however, has contained a lesson in American history; every road, as we have said, indicates a need; and the wider the road, it may be added, the greater the need. An expanding nation, in a moment's time, burst westward through these narrow trails, and left them standing as open roadways. Few material objects today suggest to our eyes this marvelous movement. These old routes with their many winding tracks, the ponderous bridges and sagging mile-posts, [21] are relics of those momentous days. ”

“ The road continues as an artificial highway, but is not continuously ridable, owing to the rocky nature of the material used in its construction and the absence of vehicular traffic to wear it smooth; but it is highly acceptable in the main. ”